BOYS WILL BE BOYS. . . Don't ask how I ended up choosing this topic for the contest this week. I stumbled across the interview while searching through the latest episodes of "The Tubridy Show", hoping to find something of interest for you complete with Irish accent and all. Lo and behold, there was this little treasure: an interview with Conn Igulden (had never heard of him), author of "The Dangerous Book for Boys", which sounded tantalizing, even to a girl like me. Here's the book description from the publisher, Harper Collins' website: "How many other books will help you thrash someone at conkers, race your own go-cart, and identify the best quotations from Shakespeare?
The Dangerous Book for Boys gives you facts and figures at your fingertips – swot up on the solar system, learn about famous battles and read inspiring stories of incredible courage and bravery. Teach your old dog new tricks. Make a pinhole camera. Understand the laws of cricket. There's a whole world out there: with this book, anyone can get out and explore it. The Dangerous Book for Boys is written with the verve and passion that readers of Conn Iggulden's number one bestselling novels have come to expect. This book, his first non-fiction work, has been written with his brother as a celebration of the long summers of their youth and as a compendium of information so vital to men of all ages. Lavishly designed and fully illustrated in colour and black and white throughout, it's set to be a perfect gift for Father's Day and beyond. "Well, that was it. I thought I'd throw this one out to y'all!
So click here and scroll down on the webpage until you find the 16 January show. Once downloaded (just click on the date) you can fast foward through until about the 30:00 mark where the 20-minute interview starts. Oops, I forgot to say that he also talks about his latest book about Genghis Khan. I was so enamored with the boys' book. :)As you'll notice, you've got quite a lot of questions this time. I hope it doesn't make it too hard. My idea was to just catch a lot of little phrases used. You can see that sometimes my questions for you are simply quotes. You just need to fill in the missing words. As always, the questions follow the order of the podcast. Enjoy!
1. How old is the author?
2. What’s the most old-fashioned thing about the book?
3. What did he set out to do when he wrote the book?
4. What did he do at one point for 7 years?
5. What’s the last image in the book?
6. “Children will go to places that we _____ _____”
7. What was rule #1?
8. What is conkers?
9. What did he get great enjoyment out of making?
10. “You can’t be excellent, but you can be ___________”
11. “Life is about getting __________”
12. “Boys are different to girls when it ________ _______ ________ the basic ________”
13. What’s the word used for the girls’ book?
14. “I’ve put you _____ _____ ______”
15. “People just seem to ______ _____ _______ the same idea at the same time.”
16. “ ______-______ _______ or _______-to-_________ story”
17. What did Khan achieve?
18. What was the “thing you did” at Genghis Khan’s time?
19. What was Conn’s first main impression of Mongolia?
20. The ponies there are bred for _________
21. What country does Mongolia look a lot like?
22. What DON’T you ask for (because it’s wooden)?
23. Why is he so interested in the great history makers?
24. What new things will he try to learn this year?
Article: Boys will be boys…or will they? By Linda Schrock Taylor
So then for your, ahem, reading. It’s just ever so slightly longer than I like to make it but it does have the advantage of being interesting, in my humble opinion of course, about a subject that maybe all of you (boys and girls alike) can relate to. . . if you think about what most teachers require from their students and what the nature of little kids (especially boys) is. Anyway, I will refrain from giving my opinion but I do want yours. So, for this portion of the quiz you just need to:
1. Identify what you think are the 4-5 main points the author of the article is trying to get across.2. Identify at least (you’re welcome to do more) 5 phrases (not just the words in isolation because at this stage of your learning you need to focus on COLLOCATIONS, not random vocabulary words) that you find useful when discussing this or related topics. Quote the expression and explain its meaning.
3. Write a short paragraph (3-5 sentences—COMPLEX ones, you ARE, after all, advanced learners, might I remind you) stating your opinion. Try to use a couple of the phrases you learned! I’m quite interested to hear what you have to say!
5 comments:
I already knew about "Dangerous Book for Boys" since last year - I put it on an Amazon wishlist and had a translation in my hands, but it never made the grade (just haven't been in the right mood it seems, and I have literally dozens of books to read at home, so it "didn't make the grade" really)
It was interesting and it's (or is it its? I forget :-P ) style, well... I'll give you an image: it is like it had been written by a couple of very mischevious, early-to-late-twenties Bill Brysons (that means entertaining and yet enlightening)
A possible suggestion for a future quiz, I leave a link of a free podcast of interviews with language students (advanced learners)
The podcast is from a paid service meant to help everyone using English and/or applying for English exams, but the podcast is free and there might be something there :-)
It is a link from www.flo-joe.com, which I also recommend for anyone learning English.
Doh!
I forgot the link! Terribly sorry:
http://www.splendid-speaking.com/community/listen.html
Here are your answers:
Listening:
1 35
2 Optimism
3 Write about things that were interesting to him when he was a boy
4 Was a teacher
5 Space shuttle
6 can’t see
7 They had to make/do everything
8 Answer varies:
*From M: "Do they say at all?) It's a game played with conkers (a type of chestnuts) banging against each other . there are drawings on the floor and a piece of string involved (marbles were a different thing"
*From Cláudia: " Some game." I have to admit I like that one!
9 The wood bench
10 competent
11 skills
12 comes down to / interests
13 Glorious
14 on the spot
15 Pick up on
16 self-made man, rags-to-riches
17 Conquered an area 4 times the size of Alexander the Great
18 Fighting
19 It’s cold
20 endurance
21 Wales
22 A Mongolian saddle
23 Someone who starts with nothing and makes a great achievement; doing something with their life that people talk about years and years later
24 Learn to fly, take up another sport
Your answers for the Reading were as follows:
Cláudia wrote:
The fact that boys have nothing to do with girls; boys need the freedom to be boys and nowadays school doesn't allow that; if boys aren't thinking they start moving and that's why they disturb classes; parents should try not to put their sons in drugs and teach them how to read as soon as possible.
M wrote:
Boys are different from girls, and should be treated as such, instead of being punished or drugged into "submission"
Boys can be incredibly inventive, and their imagination and curiosity can be a great asset
Boys have to be constantly stimulated and need mental and physical challenges in order to really excel (and there isn't much chance to do that in current schools, where the focus is on treating everyone the same, pretty much regardless of merit)
Government schooling changed the traditional "follow you father around" approach to learning into a lot more stale and sanitized, impersonal approach, that lacks the dynamic of the previous way and loses a lot of potential in the process
Reading, and competitive and imaginative play as well as personalized measures, can make a difference in more restless boys - the author even suggests home schooling can be more beneficial than putting such a student in a special school
[I'd be lying if I said I fully understood what you meant here - still, with what Portuguese call "descargo de consciência" I've chosen 5 expressions I thought would enrich a text and/or allow complex ideas to be simply put ]
hell bent [on something]- means wanting to reach a goal or situation at all costs, almost regardless of consequences
[it's a emphasis of "bent on something"]
[it is time to] shop for [something] - it means it will be necessary to look for something new, elsewhere possibly, trying out different alternatives as if we were browsing...
[I find this one interesting - how capitalist is that expression, comrade? lol]
to spoil [something or someone] - it means to ruin or let something degrade, either intentionally or not, but also to treat someone in a way that will be negative in the future (for example, using education examples,letting a kid sleep whenever he wants will make him too sleepy to attend classes properly - giving him too much attention will make him far too needy and arrogant); also preventing someone from enjoying an event or occasion
[Personally, I find this expression extremely useful, as, in a couple of words, you can play with all those different meanings - so, when in the text is says "Government schooling spoiled everything" provides more meaning and wit that a whole paragraph explaining the different ways he spoiled the previous situation]
"Insist" and "Expect" - two extremely polite expressions that convey means powerful meanings in that register insist means to accept nothing less than something, expect is no different from demand but with a polite ring to it
[Oh how I loved the look on Neil, gritted teeth describing this sort of thing "Look just fix the %&(ing thing, already!"]
push [someone or something] to the breaking point - it can be used, I believe to both objects and humans, meaning being so overbearing to someone or something they/it can take no more; in the second case, it would be "pushing a person's buttons" (annoying or insulting the person voluntarily or not) to the point where the he/she will react without restrain.
the current [something] - the modern, up-to-date, real world, real [something] (the description is simple and the word is as well, but it brightens the text and lets you know, without any doubt, it is the here and now that is being addressed)
In my opinion, students are currently treated like "cattle" - you insert facts and expect them to come out in exams, period. No one is treated as a true individual, no room for discussion and interaction - and competition is ANYTHING but friendly. I believe this is why so many of our children and youth (and you can see that clearly in the USA) feel detached from school, as well as teachers and fellow students - Some leave school, others wander as parents are busy slaving away in the globalized world, too busy to spend any time with them
In short, regardless of my views being pessimistic or not, one thing is for sure - the current educational systems all around the world will have to change, if we are not to spoil our future... and that means students, schools, universities, teachers, directors, parents, governments and curriculum!
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