Contents

Objectives

Assessment & Evaluation

Teaching-Learning Strategies

Before

During

After

Language Study

Extending Learning

Adapting Learning

Module 2 Challenges: Courage and Leadership - An excerpt from She Should Talk: Conversations with Exceptional Young Women About Life, Dreams and Success

Language Study

Tone and Language Style
Ask students to locate specific passages that contribute to the conversational tone of the interview. Students may cite sentence fragments ("The CF-18 Hornet," "Maybe a fictional character"), comma splices ("My mom is very academic, she's a very intelligent lady"), clichés ("let's just go for it," "That's the bottom line" "eyes as big as saucers" "get through the rough times"), idioms ("steer me into line" "sit on the back burner" "eating our young"), and nonstandard English ("yeah," "okay" "gonna"). Why might the interviewer and interviewee have used this style of language? Students might suggest that if Reid is trying to reach and influence young people, the informal language used is more inviting, is like the language of conversation, and makes Reid sound like a very ordinary person. Point out that stylistic choices in language affect the meaning and impact of the message communicated, and that as communicators students need to be aware of how language choices may help them achieve their purpose and what impact their language choices can make on their audience. Now, ask students to consider how Reid's language in this interview would be different from the language she uses in her job. Students might suggest that at her work, Reid might use jargon (specialized vocabulary of a profession) and precise, concise language when giving or responding to orders. Ask students to consider why precise and concise communication would be especially important to a fighter pilot. Students might suggest that because time is a crucial factor when pilots are flying 800 miles per hour, using precise and concise language could be a life-saving skill.

Canadian Spelling
Students need to learn to use correct and conventional Canadian spelling. In the interview, correct Canadian spelling is used. Write the following words on the blackboard: licence, license, practice, and practise. Ask students to identify the words in that list that reflect correct Canadian spelling. Tell students that all the words listed are spelled correctly but that words such as licence, license are spelled differently according to their use. For example, licence and practice are nouns while license and practise are verbs. Now, write the word neighbours on the board. Ask students to identify any other words in our language that follow that pattern. They might suggest honour, labour, colour, favourite, flavour, harbour, favour. On the blackboard, write the words center, check (noun), program, catalog, and gray. Ask students to identify these spellings as correct Canadian spelling or incorrect Canadian spelling. With the students, correctly spell the above listed words: centre, cheque, programme, catalogue, grey. Ask students to list other words that follow these patterns. They may suggest theatre, fibre, sombre, and meagre. Students might point out that when using computer spell checks, Canadian spellings are often considered misspellings. You may direct students to set their spell checkers to Canadian English. To do this, students may find this option in the tools section. Once in the tools section, students select the language file and select the Canadian English or English Canada preference from the list offered. Most computer programs offer this option. Distribute the Canadian Spelling guide (RTF/PDF/Word). This is a useful Web site: www.luther.ca/~dave7cnv/cdnspelling/cdnspelling.html

October 13, 2005

 

 

"Only the top ten per cent of all pilots make it as CF-18 pilots. They are also in the top ten per cent in terms of physical fitness.

Brasseur likens the intense focus required to fly a Hornet to playing a video game - only you're travelling at supersonic speeds and making a mistake doesn't just result in a screen flashing the words 'game over', but well. death itself.'

'You have all the buttons to control your airplane on your throttle and control stick. All your fingers, including your thumb, have a purpose on a button for some piece of equipment: radar, weapons system, radio. [At the same time], you have 10 to 12 inputs [like heading, air speed, altitude] that are changing every second, that you have to monitor and process and respond to,' says Brasseur."
--Excerpt from
Discovery Channel
http://www.exn.ca/