Faranak's writing

Dear Sue,
Thank you very much, your corrections are very useful for me, I became very happy when saw that you read my letter and wrote it again and corrected my mistakes, It is very valuable for me.
Sue, you are very good friend and very good teacher, all the time, I learn a lot of things from you.
Your friend, Faranak

Praise Away!

Human beings are very complicated, don't you think? The older I get, the more I realize that we all have this deep personal hollow that needs to be filled. Henry Thoreau answered a friend's letter by telling him thanks for the compliment and to "praise away!" Every one of us needs to be loved and feel needed.

When Mother had Alzheimer's Disease she could get quite upset and nervous at times, and there was NO way to reason with her. I could talk myself blue in the face and it didn't help. Then I learned that a hug and few words of love was all she really wanted. She would calm down and lean heavily on my arm, totally delighted by the attention. Even though she had lost all reasoning ability, she never lost the emotional part of her being. She loved and wanted love till the end.

I find that we Americans sometimes hate to show our feelings, and we put up a tough front to protect that soft interior from harm. I think we are all alike in that regard. I guess the old American expression "You can catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar" would be an American way of saying what I mean.

Your friend in America, Sue

Faranak's writing

Hi Sue,
I couldn't written about 2weeks because I had exams.
I spent very hard days, my exams were very compressed and I had 7exams in 10 days.
After that(now), I have to give 2 projects. One of them is hardware and I want to design and make a very small calculator with very very limited operations. Other is about design of elevator.
Sue, in this summer I have a novitiate.
Novitiate is a lessen that most of students have to spend it in a governmental office or a private company about 300hours.
My novitiate is in Ministry of Industries. I have to go there from 8 am up to 4 pm. It is for from my house.
This summer, Tehran's weather is very very hot and quartering is very hard. How is the weather in Us? Is it very hot,too?
Take care, your friend Faranak

Thoughts on Effective Education

In talking to some of my teaching friends I find that the goals for most good educators has not changed; good teachers want to prepare their students to live in the future world. It is the goal of most American educators to prepare students for 21st century living in which they will have to calibrate, communicate, solve problems and think outside the box in creative ways. Add to this the important necessity of interacting with all the people of the world.

For teaching to be successful, there are two important fundamentals for American educators: Engagement of the student in his/her learning and good Relationships with the child.

Relationships – The relationship between the educator and the student is of utmost importance. Teachers who cannot get students to relate to them and what they consider important are usually not very effective teachers. The educator must be interested in the whole child and intervene if there appears to be problems that limits the students learning. Without trust, little education occurs.

Engagement
Many methods will cause maximum engagement in the learning process:
1. Be creative in getting the student involved in what is being learned.
2. Use technology – the computer has opened a whole new method of getting students to interact and take part in their learning.
a. The GoogleBox at http://www.watchfreetvonline.net/?cat=Education
presents educators with many suggestions. The blog is used to connect students and have them comment on one another’s work,and add their ideas. Collaborative learning and group project learning is a key ingredient.
3. An emphasis on right brain learning. The most popular quote today is “Right brainers will rule the world.”


Key Ideas for Creatiing Philosophic Learners:

1. Use of the Socratic Method for discussions.
2. Introduce and teach the use of inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning
3. Game Theory -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory
4. Experimental philosophy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_philosophy

5. Simulation games – I think this article gives an excellent idea of the whole idea of experiential learning.
http://rs.resalliance.org/2007/01/19/teaching-using-a-world-simulation-game/

6. Prepare one’s own teaching philosophy. One cannot teach unless one knows what one believes about teaching. http://sunconference.utep.edu/CETaL/resources/stofteach.html

Some Key Thinkers:
http://wilderdom.com/experiential/JohnDeweyPhilosophyEducation.html

Danial Pink, A Whole New Mind. http://www.danpink.com/whole-new-mind

Pirsig, Richard, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance

Philp, Raleigh T., Engaging 'Tweens and Teens: A Brain-Compatible Approach to Reaching Middle and High School Students [Paperback]

Greene, Maxine. http://www.edutopia.org/maxine-greene

Subjunctive

The following is a mini-tutorial on the use of the Subjunctive. After you have studied the tutorial, complete the associated exercises. If you already know how to use this verb form, you can skip the explanation and go directly to the exercises.

http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/subjunctiveexercise.htm

FORM
Use the simple form of the verb. The simple form is the infinitive without the "to." The simple form of the verb "to go" is "go." The Subjunctive is only noticeable in certain forms and tenses.

USE
The Subjunctive is used to emphasize urgency or importance. It is used after certain expressions (see below).

Examples:

•I suggest that he study.
•Is it essential that we be there?
•Don recommended that you join the committee.
NOTICE
The Subjunctive is only noticeable in certain forms and tenses. In the examples below, the Subjunctive is not noticeable in the you-form of the verb, but it is noticeable in the he-form of the verb.

Examples:

•You try to study often. you-form of "try"
•It is important that you try to study often. Subjunctive form of "try" looks the same.
•He tries to study often. he-form of "try"
•It is important that he try to study often. Subjunctive form of "try" is noticeable here.
Verbs Followed by the Subjunctive
The Subjunctive is used after the following verbs:

to advise (that)
to ask (that)
to command (that)
to demand (that)
to desire (that)
to insist (that)
to propose (that)
to recommend (that)
to request (that)
to suggest (that)
to urge (that)

Examples:

•Dr. Smith asked that Mark submit his research paper before the end of the month.
•Donna requested Frank come to the party.
•The teacher insists that her students be on time.
Expressions Followed by the Subjunctive
The Subjunctive is used after the following expressions:

It is best (that)
It is crucial (that)
It is desirable (that)
It is essential (that)
It is imperative (that)
It is important (that)
It is recommended (that)
It is urgent (that)
It is vital (that)
It is a good idea (that)
It is a bad idea (that)

Examples:

•It is crucial that you be there before Tom arrives.
•It is important she attend the meeting.
•It is recommended that he take a gallon of water with him if he wants to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
Negative, Continuous and Passive Forms of Subjunctive
The Subjunctive can be used in negative, continuous and passive forms.

Negative Examples:

•The boss insisted that Sam not be at the meeting.
•The company asked that employees not accept personal phone calls during business hours.
•I suggest that you not take the job without renegotiating the salary.
Passive Examples:

•Jake recommended that Susan be hired immediately.
•Christine demanded that I be allowed to take part in the negotiations.
•We suggested that you be admitted to the organization.
Continuous Examples:

•It is important that you be standing there when he gets off the plane.
•It is crucial that a car be waiting for the boss when the meeting is over.
•I propose that we all be waiting in Tim's apartment when he gets home.
Should as Subjunctive
After many of the above expressions, the word "should" is sometimes used to express the idea of subjunctiveness. This form is used more frequently in British English and is most common after the verbs "suggest," "recommend" and "insist."

Examples:

•The doctor recommended that she should see a specialist about the problem.
•Professor William suggested that Wilma should study harder for the final exam.
EXERCISES AND RELATED TOPICS:
•Subjunctive Exercise 1: http://www.englishpage.com/minitutorials/subjunctiveexercise.htm

Dear Sue,

Dear Sue,
I am so glad to hear from you. I am sorry for my mistakes. Exams were ended. I got my grade. It is not very bad. I go to airport tonight. My father’s aunt will come from Mecca. Mecca is a holy city for Muslims. Do you wath the world cup’s game? I like Germany. Your team is better than before. South Africa is an advanced country. It is very beautiful. It is a success for blacks that they have an advanced country.
Today is the father’s day in Iran. Iman Ali was born today. He is a spicial character.
Take care,
Bahman

Of such I dream the world

By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer Arthur Max, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jun 24, 7:35 pm ET

AGADIR, Morocco – Sperm whales feeding even in the most remote reaches of Earth's oceans have built up stunningly high levels of toxic and heavy metals, according to American scientists who say the findings spell danger not only for marine life but for the millions of humans who depend on seafood.



A report released Thursday noted high levels of cadmium, aluminum, chromium, lead, silver, mercury and titanium in tissue samples taken by dart gun from nearly 1,000 whales over five years. From polar areas to equatorial waters, the whales ingested pollutants that may have been produced by humans thousands of miles away, the researchers said.

"These contaminants, I think, are threatening the human food supply. They certainly are threatening the whales and the other animals that live in the ocean," said biologist Roger Payne, founder and president of Ocean Alliance, the research and conservation group that produced the report.

The researchers found mercury as high as 16 parts per million in the whales. Fish high in mercury such as shark and swordfish — the types health experts warn children and pregnant women to avoid — typically have levels of about 1 part per million.

The whales studied averaged 2.4 parts of mercury per million, but the report's authors said their internal organs probably had much higher levels than the skin samples contained.

"The entire ocean life is just loaded with a series of contaminants, most of which have been released by human beings," Payne said in an interview on the sidelines of the International Whaling Commission's annual meeting.

Payne said sperm whales, which occupy the top of the food chain, absorb the contaminants and pass them on to the next generation when a female nurses her calf. "What she's actually doing is dumping her lifetime accumulation of that fat-soluble stuff into her baby," he said, and each generation passes on more to the next.

Ultimately, he said, the contaminants could jeopardize seafood, a primary source of animal protein for 1 billion people.

"You could make a fairly tight argument to say that it is the single greatest health threat that has ever faced the human species. I suspect this will shorten lives, if it turns out that this is what's going on," he said.

Payne called his group's $5 million project the most comprehensive report ever done on ocean pollutants.

U.S. Whaling Commissioner Monica Medina informed the 88 member nations of the whaling commission of the report and urged the commission to conduct further research.

The report "is right on target" for raising issues critical to humans as well as whales, Medina told The Associated Press. "We need to know much more about these problems."

Payne, 75, is best known for his 1968 discovery and recordings of songs by humpback whales, and for finding that some whale species can communicate with each other over thousands of miles.

The 93-foot Odyssey, a sail-and-motor ketch, set out in March 2000 from San Diego to document the oceans' health, collecting pencil-eraser-sized samples using a dart gun that barely made the whales flinch.

After more than five years and 87,000 miles, samples had been taken from 955 whales. The samples were sent for analysis to marine toxicologist John Wise at the University of Southern Maine. DNA was compared to ensure the animals were not tested more than once.

Payne said the original objective of the voyage was to measure chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants, and the study of metals was an afterthought.

The researchers were stunned with the results. "That's where the shocking, sort of jaw-dropping concentrations exist," Payne said.

Though it was impossible to know where the whales had been, Payne said the contamination was embedded in the blubber of males formed in the frigid polar regions, indicating that the animals had ingested the metals far from where they were emitted.

"When you're working with a synthetic chemical which never existed in nature before and you find it in a whale which came from the Arctic or Antarctic, it tells you that was made by people and it got into the whale," he said.

How that happened is unclear, but the contaminants likely were carried by wind or ocean currents, or were eaten by the sperm whales' prey.

Sperm whales are toothed whales that eat all kinds of fish, even sharks. Dozens have been taken by whaling ships in the past decade. Most of the whales hunted by the whaling countries of Japan, Norway and Iceland are minke whales, which are baleen whales that feed largely on tiny krill.

Chromium, an industrial pollutant that causes cancer in humans, was found in all but two of the 361 sperm whale samples that were tested for it. Those findings were published last year in the scientific journal Chemosphere.

"The biggest surprise was chromium," Payne said. "That's an absolute shocker. Nobody was even looking for it."

The corrosion-resistant metal is used in stainless steel, paints, dyes and the tanning of leather. It can cause lung cancer in people who work in industries where it is commonly used, and was the focus of the California environmental lawsuit that gained fame in the movie "Erin Brockovich."

It was impossible to say from the samples whether any of the whales suffered diseases, but Wise found that the concentration of chromium found in whales was several times higher than the level required to kill healthy cells in a Petri dish, Payne said.

He said another surprise was the high concentrations of aluminum, which is used in packaging, cooking pots and water treatment. Its effects are unknown.

The consequences of the metals could be horrific for both whale and man, he said.

"I don't see any future for whale species except extinction," Payne said. "This is not on anybody's radar, no government's radar anywhere, and I think it should be

An entry from Thoreau's journal

June 18. To Hemlocks.

Sparganium. A yellowbird feigns broken wings. Woodcock.
At 3 P.M., as I walked up the bank by the Hemlocks, I saw a painted tortoise just beginning its hole; then another a dozen rods from the river on the bare barren field near some pitch pines, where the earth was covered with cladonias, cinquefoil, sorrel, etc. Its hole was about two thirds done. I stooped down over it, and, to my surprise, after a slight pause it proceeded in its work, directly under and within eighteen inches of my face. I retained a constrained position for three quarters of an hour or more for fear of alarming it. It rested on its fore legs, the front part of its shell about one inch higher than the rear, and this position was not changed essentially to the last. The hole was oval, broadest behind, about one inch wide and one and three quarters long, and the dirt already removed was quite wet or moistened. It made the hole and removed the dirt with its hind legs only, not using its tail or shell, which last of course could not enter the hole, though there was some dirt on it. It first scratched two or three times with one hind foot; then took up a pinch of the loose sand and deposited it directly behind that leg, pushing it backward to its full length and then deliberately opening it and letting the dirt fall; then the same with the other hind foot. This it did rapidly, using each leg alternately with perfect regularity, standing on the other one the while, and thus tilting up its shell each time, now to this side, then to that. There was half a minute or a minute between each change. The hole was made as deep as the feet could reach, or about two inches. It was very neat about its work, not scattering the dirt about any more than was necessary. The completing of the hole occupied perhaps five minutes.

It then without any pause drew its head completely into its shell, raised the rear a little, and protruded and dropped a wet flesh-colored egg into the hole, one end foremost, the red skin of its body being considerably protruded with it. Then it put out its head again a little, slowly, and placed the egg at one side with one hind foot. After a, delay of about two minutes it again drew in its head and dropped another, and so on to the fifth — drawing in its head each time. and pausing somewhat longer between the last. The eggs were placed in the hole without any _particular_ care, — only well down flat and [each] out of the way of the next, — and I could plainly see them from above.
After these ten minutes or more, it without pause or turning began to scrape the moist earth into the hole with its hind legs, and, when it had half filled it, it carefully pressed it down with the edges of its hind feet, dancing on them alternately, for some time, as on its knees, tilting from side to side, pressing by the whole weight of the rear of its shell. When it had drawn in thus all the earth that had been moistened, it stretched its hind legs further back and to each side, and drew in the dry and lichen-clad crust, and then danced upon and pressed that down, still not moving the rear of its shell more than one inch to right or left all the while, or changing the position of the forward part at all. The thoroughness with which the covering was done was remarkable. It persevered in drawing in and dancing on the dry surface which had never been disturbed, long after you thought it had done its duty, but it never moved its fore feet, nor once looked round, nor saw the eggs it had laid. There were frequent pauses throughout the whole, when it rested, or ran out its head and looked about circumspectly, at any noise or motion. These pauses were especially long during the covering of its eggs, which occupied more than half an hour. Perhaps it was hard work.

When it had done, it immediately started for the river at a pretty rapid rate (the suddenness with which it made these transitions was amusing), pausing from time to time, and I judged that it would reach it in fifteen minutes. It was not easy to detect that the ground had been disturbed there. An Indian could not have made his cache more skillfully. In a few minutes all traces of it would be lost to the eye.
The object of moistening the earth was perhaps to enable it to take it up in its hands (?), and also to prevent its falling back into the hole. Perhaps it also helped to make the ground more compact and harder when it was pressed down. [_Vide_ September 10th.]

A noiseless patient spider: A poem of Walt Whitman

A noiseless, patient spider,
I mark'd, where, on a little promontory, it stood, isolated;
Mark'd how, to explore the vacant, vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself;
Ever unreeling them--ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you, O my Soul, where you stand,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing,--seeking the spheres, to connect them;
Till the bridge you will need, be form'd--till the ductile anchor hold;
Till the gossamer thread you fling, catch somewhere, O my Soul.

Walt Whitman

A beautiful quote

With many thanks to Sue and her son: "In Wildness is the preservation of the world."