Comments for That'SLife

Comment on Dormant… by Adam Simpson (@yearinthelifeof)

Adam Simpson (@yearinthelifeof) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 18:42:56 +0000

Good luck with the new projects…hope you return to blogging at some point in the future

Comment on Second Life – The Long Goodbye by Snow Scramon

Snow Scramon — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 01:09:50 +0000

I understand your choice but I still sorry it has come to that. Maybe I am still a believe. I too have been very involved in the SL community for years. It saddens me to see so many of the major organizations who jumped on board in 2009 when SL was the new hot thing drop away one by one. Even so I still believe that SL is not so much dying as sleeping. I see the success of groups like Rockville, Stanford and many others and I hear the early rustling of the penudium slowing swinging back. I hope at some point Lindens get a clue and realize that throwing massive amounts of money at sims for fickle gamers is a waste when simply deceasing tier fees for educational sims would be a cheap way of building stable user base. oh well, I can dream

Comment on Conferenced Out? by Gavin Dudeney

Gavin Dudeney — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 07:22:22 +0000

Lalitha,

Thanks for the comment – I look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Gavin

Comment on Conferenced Out? by Lalitha Murthy

Lalitha Murthy — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 01:26:28 +0000

Great blogpost, Gavin. I feel like cheering. I am from India,and a passionate Business englsih trainer.
I opened your blog ( link from the Besig Conference schedule – Nov 2012)
English has undergone so many variations, and a local person may be aware of regional nuances. Example ” kindly do the needful” – Indians often use this!
Also, the local population may feel more comfortable with a local person. They are also more familiar with the challenges in that particular country.
Look forward to your plenary!
Regards
lalitha

Comment on Spilt Milk by #ELTchat » ELTchat Review – Traditional Approaches and Social Media

#ELTchat » ELTchat Review – Traditional Approaches and Social Media — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 20:27:20 +0000

[...] on plagiarism. The post has some surprises in store and we encourage all our listeners to read here and comment on it, either on the blog itself or on [...]

Comment on The Mellow Centre by Kalyan

Kalyan — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 14:03:17 +0000

I mean TD SIG.

Comment on The Mellow Centre by Kalyan

Kalyan — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 14:01:49 +0000

I think you spoke at LTSIG and TED SIG Joint event http://iatefleventsturkey.com/ not at LTSIG and TTEd SIG.

Comment on The Mellow Centre by Is Dogme in ELT going soft in its old age? | efl-resource.com

Is Dogme in ELT going soft in its old age? | efl-resource.com — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 05:38:28 +0000

[...] ELT going soft in its old age? Posted on 29 May, 2012 by Simon Thomas Gavin Dudeney reflects on the recent IATEFL conference in Istanbul.Share this post:Bookmark on DeliciousDigg this postRecommend on FacebookGoogle Buzz-up this [...]

Comment on The Mellow Centre by Adam Simpson

Adam Simpson — Mon, 28 May 2012 18:08:14 +0000

This conference did seem to represent something of a re-imagining of accepted* wisdom on both sides.

From the unplugged side we had the idea that tech could, when used conscientiously, extend the opportunities for student-led classroom experiences.

From the tech side, we saw a heavy focus on tech for benefits rather than tech for tech’s sake.

Overall, this felt like the coming together of two perspectives that should never have been far apart to begin with.

* I use this in the loosest sense of the word

Comment on iPad Save As PDF by roberto

roberto — Tue, 15 May 2012 03:21:24 +0000

hi guys cant make it work with an ipad 3 anyone having problems?

Comment on iPad Save As PDF by Wildman

Wildman — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:17:34 +0000

Thanks for this info. It was a great launching point for helping me do what I wanted — save a webpage as a pdf in iOS. With a small tweak to your awesome javascript, I’m able to get the newly created pdf to open in iOS Safari, then use the “open in…” menu to route it to dropbox, goodreader, evernote, etc.

Two things I did to make the javascript work for me: 1) Remove the letter “g” from the javascript so the resulting pdf goes back to Safari.

2) After saving the javascript as a bookmark the first time, reopen the bookmark and make sure it looks exactly like it does below. As Behar mentions above, iOS will likely change the single quotes into a “%E2%80%99″ after the first save.

javascript:pdf_url=location.href;location.href=?http://api.joliprint.com/api/rest/url/print/s/joliprint.com?url=?+escape(pdf_url)+?&disposition=attachment?

I’m using this workflow to save pages to evernote. Thanks again!

Comment on Conferenced Out? by Adrian

Adrian — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:21:53 +0000

Gavin,

In December I was invited to a conference in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It was slightly different as it wasn’t an ELT conference but one on technology in the classroom. One thing was very refreshing. I was one of only two white male speakers the rest being mostly from the gulf region and a few from countries such as Malaysia, Korea etc. For me there were two ‘stars of the show’ one lady and one gentlemen both from Saudi Arabia – fantastic speakers who would both grace conferences anywhere in the world.

Comment on Conferenced Out? by TEFL Blog posts roundup for January, 2012 | David's ELT World

TEFL Blog posts roundup for January, 2012 | David's ELT World — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:48:30 +0000

[...] Conferenced Out? – That’S Life [...]

Comment on iPad Save As PDF by Pete Zerger

Pete Zerger — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 16:18:32 +0000

Likewise, I was unable to make this work, but the ‘special bookmark’ option provided in Goodreader is an instant fix. The URL provided by Goodreader is

javascript:window.location=’g'+location.href

Comment on Conferenced Out? by Reflections on the 1st International ELT Conference | British Council Turkey

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:05:29 +0000

[...] Gavin Dudeney discusses his thoughts on the event here. [...]

Comment on On PLNs by 11 posts I wish I’d written | 4C

11 posts I wish I’d written | 4C — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:16:30 +0000

[...] Gavin Dudeney’s comment on his post On PLNSs by Gavin Dudeney There is a certain you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours love fest within the blogging environment. There also tends to be a fear of criticising, even if constructively, PLN’s lessons, activities and posts. Where once the Internet was filled with anonymous (and misguided) courage, now taking responsibility for comments can suppress real professional growth. This comment, even more than the post itself, is often something I’ve felt. [...]

Comment on Conferenced Out? by DaveDodgson

DaveDodgson — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:20:47 +0000

As somebody who is white, British and approaching middle-age faster than he would like, should I make a stand by NOT pursuing a career as a pleanry speaker? :p

Seriously though, this is like a conference twist on native-speakerism in many schools around the world. Often local teachers are overlooked in favour of some ‘flown in’ native speaker, while at conferences …er.. local teachers are overlooked in favour of some ‘flown in’ plenary speaker.

Dave

Comment on Conferenced Out? by Enda Scott

Enda Scott — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:01:10 +0000

Indeed! See you at a conference somewhere soon … IATEFL perhaps
Enda

Comment on Conferenced Out? by Gavin Dudeney

Gavin Dudeney — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:00:02 +0000

Enda,

Yes, I agree it’s a very tricky balancing act… but one conference I remember this year in Latin America had around eight plenary speakers, all of whom were white, middle-class, middle-aged Brits (or Canadians, Americans, etc…). Again, I would have thought they could have found at least one woman for the conference, and even one ‘token non-native local expert’…. You would think so, wouldn’t you?

I find myself agreeing more and more these days with your view that “a local teacher, practical, familiar with the context, will often score very highly when it comes to feedback from conference goers as opposed to somebody flown in from abroad”. I know it’s good to have some ‘experts from the field’, but it’s also good to have some experts still in the field…

Gavin

Comment on Conferenced Out? by Enda Scott

Enda Scott — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:50:51 +0000

Hi Gavin,
thanks for this, a lot to think about. As you know I have been involved in organising TESOL-SPAIN conferences for ten years now and, between myself and my wife, we have been speaker co-ordinators on some six of these annual conferences. All the points you make are very familiar. We try to balance expertise with novelty but when you put “names”, publishers and generally people on the circuit into the hat there often appears to be little room for new-comers. The irony of course is that many of the teachers who attend these conferences are not actually familiar with the “names”, and don’t necessarily know or care who they are. Plenary speakers tend to be judged on their entertainment value rather than content: people are very often looking for the practical ideas you don’t find at plenary talks and on this front, a local teacher, practical, familiar with the context, will often score very highly when it comes to feedback from conference goers as opposed to somebody flow in from abroad.
It is all complicated. There is a machinery that cannot be completely avoided but as conference organisers we certainly need to aim at a mix … eye candy for all tastes )
Enda