The Power of Yet by Carol Dweck

So here is a short but very informative video on a Not Yet strategy worth watching. Not only it suggests some practical tips, but also inspires.

As I've been trying to derive more from what I read and what I watch, I decided to use techniques of wise reading (which can be transformed into wise watching I guess). In attempt to get as much as possible from this video I created a short summary of the video while listening to it for the second time. So now I'm going to write it down here, trying not to look at the notes I took but rather by remembering stuff.

I hope it will also be useful for you and will save your time as the sketch I made includes all the main ideas, so if you don't have 10 mins to watch the video, you can just spend 2 mins looking through the sketch.

The Power of Yet

• There are children with fixed mind set and growth mind set:

- GROWTH mind set children 1) like challenge and 2) understand that their abilities can be developed

- FIXED mind set children are scared of hard tasks and when having failed at their first attempt (according to the study) next time are likely to 1) cheat 2) look for someone who did worse than them in order to feel better 3) run from difficulties

• Fixed and growth mind set children treat errors differently:

- GROWTH mind set children process the error, learn from it and correct it

- FIXED mind set children run from error and don't engage with it

• To build the bridge to Not Yet set of mind we can:

1. Grade "Not there yet" instead of "Failed"
2. Praise wisely: do not praise for intelligence and talent, but praise for process, strategy and effort
3. Reward students for progress, not for the results right now
4. Teach students about the growth mindset, i.e. provide them with info that every time they push out of the comfort zone to learn something new, neurons in their brain form new stronger connections. And, as a result, they get smarter 
5. Consiquently transform the meaning of effort and challenge into the right and more positive one

All the info and steps mentioned above need to be kept in mind and put into practice in order to build self-confident personalities who are not afraid of learning and making mistakes.

How to learn a new language: 7 secrets from TED Translator

They say that children learn languages the best. But that doesn’t mean that adults should give up. We asked some of the polyglots in TED’s Open Translation Project to share their secrets to mastering a foreign language. Their best strategies distill into seven basic principles:

1. Get real. Decide on a simple, attainable goal to start with so that you don’t feel overwhelmed. German translator Judith Matz suggests: “Pick up 50 words of a language and start using them on people — and then slowly start picking up grammar.”
2. Make language-learning a lifestyle change. Elisabeth Buffard, who in her 27 years of teaching English has always seen consistency as what separates the most successful students from the rest. Find a language habit that you can follow even when you’re tired, sick or madly in love.
3. Play house with the language. The more you invite a foreign language into your daily life, the more your brain will consider it something useful and worth caring about. “Use every opportunity to get exposed to the new language,” says Russian translator Olga Dmitrochenkova. Label every object in your house in this language, read kids’ books written in it, watch subtitled TED and TEDx talks, or live-narrate parts of your day to an imaginary foreign friend.
4. Let technology help you out. Dmitrochenkova has a great idea: “A funny thing like resetting the language on your phone can help you learn new words right away,” she says. Ditto for changing the language on your browser. Or you can seek out more structured learning opportunities online. Dutch translator Els De Keyser recommendsDuolinguo for its gamified approach to grammar, and Anki for memorizing vocabulary with its “intelligent” flashcards.
5. Think about language-learning as a gateway to new experiences. To Spanish translator Sebastián Betti, learning a language has always been about focusing on the experiences that the new language would open up, from “visiting theme parks, attending air shows, enjoying cowboy poetry and folk-rock festivals, to learning about photo-essay techniques.” In other words, he thinks of fun things that he wanted to do anyway, and makes them into a language-learning opportunity. Many of our translators shared this advice. Italian and French translator Anna Minoli learned English by watching undubbed versions of her favorite movies, while Croatian translator Ivan Stamenković suddenly realized he could speak English in fifth grade, after years of watching the Cartoon Network without subtitles. So the next time you need a vegan carrot cake recipe, find one in the language you’re trying to learn.
6. Make new friends. Interacting in the new language is key — it will teach you to intuitively express your thoughts, instead of mentally translating each sentence before you say it. Find native speakers near you. Or search for foreign penpals or set up a language tandem online, where two volunteers help one another practice their respective languages.
7. Do not worry about making mistakes. One of the most common barriers to conversing in a new language is the fear of making mistakes. But native speakers are like doting parents: any attempt from you to communicate in their language is objective proof that you are a gifted genius. They’ll appreciate your effort and even help you. Nervous about holding a conversation with a peer? Try testing your language skills with someone a little younger. “I was stoked when I was chatting with an Italian toddler and realized we had the same level of Italian,” recalls German translator Judith Matz. And be patient. The more you speak, the closer you’ll get to the elusive ideal of “native-like fluency.” And to talking to people your own age.

Posted by: Tedstaff. November 4, 2014 at 5:10 pm EST. Original - http://blog.ted.com/2014/11/04/how-to-learn-a-new-language-7-secrets-from-ted-translators/

By Krystian Aparta

Box of random fun

Today I had a pleasure to read several articles, like this one, for example, that suggests running a Box of Random Fun in your classroom, which is a splendid idea.


As for other ideas that I gleaned today:

1) One-word-inspired essay. As it occurs, at All Saints' College in Oxford used to have a one word entrance exam. All students would turn their exam papers at the same time and see some word. Only one. For example, innocence or tenderness or friendship. So they had then some limited amount of time to write an essay inspired only by that word.

2) Role-writing. When setting up a wiritng (or speaking activity) you can inspire and spur your students by assigning them some special role. That is, you give the same essay topic to everybody but they all have different perspectives to discuss this toipc from. It is better and more vivid to use some realia while doing this activity - that is to use hats or maybe some other attributes. There is a whole 6 thinking hats method developed by Edward de Bono, by the way. You can use it or assign your own roles: e.g., green hat is for writing from a point of view of a nature-lover, white hat is for writing from a highly moral person and so on.