On the eighth day of Geekmas, some blogger gave to me: eight talks worth watching
Welcome to the teflgeek Christmas celebration! Themed around the classic Christmas carol – but going backwards, mostly because it’s more like a countdown that way:
and eight talks worth watching – these have all been selected from the great selection at TED.com, who’ve just announced the 2012 TED Prize winner: The City 2.0.
Obviously, other inspiring talk providers are available.
I’ve chosen these, because these are the talks that have tied into things I’ve been thinking about, inspired me in some way or have taken my thinking in new directions. They’re listed here in no particular order. So enjoy!
Richard Baraniuk talks about open-source learning (18.34) – an idea I think needs a bit more structure. See also Jason Renshaw’s posts on Open (Source) English.
Seth Priebatsch describes his dream of “building a game layer on top of the world” (12.23). Gamification is undoubtedly the next big thing and the gamification of education is already underway (see Sarah Smith-Robbins EDUCAUSE article). Seth lets us know how and why this could be done.
Erin Mckean (15.51) on lexicography and diving into the deep blue ocean of English. When she’s done, you’ll want to run off and hug your dictionary.
John Hunter on his “World Peace Game” (20.28). He initially talks about his background in teaching, his description of the game itself gets going from about 7 minutes in – it’s a remarkable and fantastic achievement!. For more info and for the video John refers to in his talk, check out “World Peace and other 4th grade achievements”
Jay Walker on “The World’s English Mania” (5.02). I remember the Li Yang thing from my time in China and met a couple of people who’d been at his rallies. His theory, as I recall, was essentially audiolingualism on a political rally type scale. The results, in my experience, were limited… Jay’s talk will be a shot in the arm for ELF supporters – and will no doubt help shoot down other theories.
Diana Laufenberg on How to learn? From mistakes (10.06). An elegant reminder that, ultimately, processing where we went wrong leads us on to bigger and better things.
Sir Ken Robinson, and this talk in particular, shouldn’t need any introduction (11.41). You’ve probably seen it already. If so, it’s worth watching again! If you haven’t….? Now would be a good time!
Taylor Mali’s word perfect summation of the teaching profession (3.03).
teflgeek 
Thursday 15 December 2011 at 13:15
Hi there, I’ve been looking through your site. You have a really attractive, interesting resource for English learners here. Thanks for providing all this excellent free content. I will be back later to watch some more of the videos you’ve put on this post.
Keep up the great work.
Thanks,
Jon Sumner
U.K.
Thursday 15 December 2011 at 13:57
Hi Jon,
Thank you for the comment! TED talks are an excellent resource both for educators to use in class and for some professional reflection – these are just a few of my favourites, but I’d strongly recommend checking out the TED Talks website.
David
Friday 16 December 2011 at 11:30
Thanks David, I’ll check out the TED site.