I've always argued that correct spelling and grammar are important. That you need to know the rules before you can successfully break or bend them. But finding a cogent argument as to
why hasn't been too easy. (In my case it's simply because I love language, communication, so much. The sound and shape of words in speech, on the page... Heh, you've heard it all before...)
So it was good to find a blog -
Entry Points - which expresses it rather neatly.
A thoughtful teacher may have an answer which is legitimate. She may say, "Learning the parts of speech gives you a handle on language and with that handle you can improve all facets of your grammar." Unfortunately, true as this may be, it often doesn't really connect with the student. He may take us another level deep with, "But why do I need good grammar? My dad has bad grammar and he makes more than you do."
Of course, good teachers have a lot of good answers to that question, but there are times when none seem to work. That's when I pull out the following: I say, "Why does a professional football player lift weights? He never lifts weights during a game. The same applies to this concept I'm making you learn. In itself it may not have any obvious practical value, but it strengthens your mind and let me assure you: you will need to use your mind in any job you do and in every other area of your 'real' life as well."
This works, I believe, because it is absolutely true. The latest brain research indicates that any mental activity a person does increases the brain's acuity. While I would never want anyone to think that I only teach things for the sake of 'neurobics' (as one author has coined it), it is certainly a valid rationale for the teaching of anything.
'Neurobics'. I like that. And the quote expresses
exactly what I believe, in a neatly accessible way.
I forgot to mention in my last post that Valkyrie made me the most
gorgeous birthday card. This is a thumbnail - there's a larger version at the bottom of the
CCO808 fic
Haven in the Oedo section of the (other) Zone, and an even larger version at the
CCO808 lj (but you need to be a member to see it). Valkyrie has also done an illustration for the Joules/Lutra joint story
Band 2 (tch', why didn't we come up with a more inspiring title, Lutra?) - a picture of Sengoku in that raunchy cowboy outfit (the one with the thong and crop top and fringed chaps...) which is now posted in the story in the (other) Zone. And there's the same pic of Sengoku but
without the thong, top and chaps on Valkyrie's artworks page, also in the (other) Zone...
[GLOMPS Valkyrie]
And Lutra thought that Benten and Jade would make beautiful merbois, and I agreed, and said I'd write the story.. [grins] Sorry, Valkyrie. Didn't
mean to make more work for you, but a Benten/Jade merboi fluffy pwp is such a lovely idea...
... four more CH spreads and the book is finished...
Today's fortune cookie...
A modest glow-in-the-dark star never talks to itself.
|
|
[blink] It doesn't? I could have
sworn I heard them all murmuring to themselves... I learn something new every day...
I really do not like that awful clenched stomach, knife-edge, slightly dizzy feeling that signals a bout of depression. And I don't like crying - it leaves my eyelids swollen almost shut and my eyes horribly red and sore, and my sinuses clogged so I can't breathe. I do my damnedest to avoid it these days.
Heh, if I should disappear for a few days, that'll be why.
#
Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 12:48 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment