**application to transfer from Bachelor of Speech and Hearing Sciences to Bachelor of Linguistics and Language Sciences is PENDING**

 Two, possibly three, semesters remaining. The plan following those is to complete a Masters of teaching somewhere, with the view of working at a secondary school as a language teacher. Therefore, some Spanish certification should be acquired before then (gained credit mark from highest level unit available at Macquarie). 

News Article Commentary: Sociolinguistics of Quebec (for MQuni; unit grade – High Distinction)

Linguistics degree

Quebec to Tighten Language Law Force Retailers to Add French Descriptions to Names

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-to-tighten-language-law-force-retailers-to-add-french-descriptions-to-names-1.3111750

Happy with the grade some lessons learned are = less liberal with references: because I have read about related topics isn't reason enough to cite them together (language ideology references removed = Crystal, 2003; Schneider, 2003; Meyerhoff, 2015; Krauss, 1992; Choi, 2005; Perez, 2016), i.e., they should more directly support my argument-building. 

Variation in TESOL with Dr Jill Murray: Native Speaker v. Non-Native Speaker Teachers (for MQuni; unit grade – High Distinction)

Discussion Topic: Native Speaker Teachers (NS) vs. Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNS)

Would you rather learn a language from a NS than a NNS? 

• I would rather learn an L2 from a native speaker, if, for instance, my learner goals included travel in that country – or countries – pronunciation, L2 for interactional (think conversational) usage with L1s, and cultural knowledge gained through their lessons (materials, information, stories, personality). 
• I would rather learn an L2 from a non-native speaker, if, for instance, my learner goals included increasing understanding of form (or grammar), specialist or academic purposes, or perhaps for transactional purposed only (think shops, tickets), and exams knowledge gained through their own experience. 

What are some factors for schools preferring NS?

• Factors for preference for L1 teachers in the ELT world could be their native pronunciation, their connection with an esteemed variety (e.g., US or British English), their cultural input for the school.

Advantages & Disadvantages Nativeness

+	-
Outer circle: T is viewed as example of standard; T can serve as real connection with Inner circle countries.	T experiences value judgments held in anti-colonialism views; T doesn't possess insight for non-standard varieties that NNS has.
Inner circle: T provides detailed local knowledge related to procedures, applications, exams, geography.	T gives lessons to constellation of language learners (ESL) though of differing backgrounds and languages, which complicates understanding errors and motivations, etc; NNS may possess greater cultural knowledge.
Expanding circle: T has a token role and can be viewed as a gateway,  teaching can be easier as a result; pronunciation drills; errors across the class can be more uniform; T doesn't always need qualifications (perhaps none!)	T may not have proficiency in the local language, thus be out of touch with learner nuances that NNS has; NNS has clearer language production; NNS is more qualified and may have studied 4-5 years to teach L1; NNS is bilingual and has had to work harder hence can empathise; NSS could have greater specialist or academic knowledge; NS has to be aware of colloquial or idiomatic language they may possess; NS's nationality may not be desirable**

** as a NS in Argentina I was turned away from some schools because of my nationality (not pure British!) like the British Council and International House (which is where I originally gained my teaching CELTA/TESOL here in Sydney!) 

• Every learner of any of these contexts and profiles has their own goals (or has to follow ones set by an organisation, for instance, which requires they  study), and it is important for the T to understand the L as closely as possible, their profile, goals (and learning styles, here is a guide I threw together http://rozynskiplansandmaterials.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-guide-to-understanding-learner.html): if we can understand these, we can understand motivations for things more clearly. One reason, for me, at classroom management level, is that knowing what to correct, remodel, plan for, or to make learning strategies for becomes easier. For example, an 'incorrect' use of language may.... well first, be actually correct in the local variety.... or may only be a 'slip' which doesn't need correction, or may not be an 'error' in light of the goals of the learner (i.e., learning TL for  travelling). That's to say, understanding these can help the T feel less lost when in comes to classroom management and in control. From my experience, and by what's reported (pictured), it is classroom management that language teachers find most difficult. The more local, and classroom-level knowledge a T can have there more useful it is. 

  

Discussion Topic: Including the Variations of English (other than the 'standard') in TESOL. 

• After thinking about Dr Jill Murray's lecture, I think that variations of English deserve better recognition in the ELT world. The idea there is a global standard or prestige standard may blind Ts from seeing some of the local characteristics I mention. The view of one global language or standard helps sustain this view of privilege, evidenced in inner and outer circle speakers or learners. Instead, a language ideology, a homogeneity, the effects of which can be seen in domain and language loss and attrition of varieties of other languages, is maintained, an idea I find puzzling: a rich culture is rich in languages (and their variations), it seems counterintuitive language enthusiasts might think otherwise.

Presentation: Book Launch for Editing & Publishing (for MQuni; unit grade –Distinction)

 This presentation will include an overview of the chosen event, a description of the intended audience and the motivation for the choice of publications created for it

Event: Jules Verne Book Launch (a posthumously published work of J. Verne by a relative) including promotional website (https://julesverne2020.blogspot.com/)

Grade: 83%

Rationale & Style Guide: 88%

(style guide...)

Publishing & Editing: Microsructure & Macrostructure (for MQuni; unit grade – Distinction)

 Linguistics degree

1. Microsructure

It was a calming bit of self-paced instruction in the behavior of compressible fluids; it was even a useful deception of sorts, since after an hour of feeling that spotlight of air playing over your face, your thoughts full of the remembered sight of contrails in a blue sky as seen from earth – the way they first appear like narrow staves of music a little way behind a very high plane, and gradually fatten into shaving-cream crudities before fading – or of cold rides in the back of pickup trucks, when your cheek nerves grew deadened to the insistent flapping of a lock of hair that now doesn’t exist, or of the print ad for Maxell tape in which a man sits in an armchair and experiences a blast of La Mer from his speakers that sinks him deep into the cushions and flings his tie over his shoulder and tips the shade of the standing lamp, you began to think that if the real jet engines were to fail, the plane would float to earth on the output of these tame little verniers alone, as in the parlor trick in which ten guests each use one finger to lift a heavy volunteer – and as the plane lost altitude and the captain flipped desperately through the technical manuals muttering, “It’s got to be a bad chip!” one alert hero would jump up and say, “Turn your air vents to full, people!” and Ernest Borgnine would passionately chime in, “The man’s right! Do as he says!” and every arm would extend, so that from the smoking section you had the impression of an elephant herd reaching their prehensile noses for leafy leftovers on higher branches, and the plane’s descent would slow to a pilotable rate, and as we drifted lower and lower over the water, like the brave Frenchmen who crouched in the wicker passenger basket of the damaged and half-terrifying illustration for Mysterious Island (the nineteenth-century use of wicker is part of what gives ballooning such a Fragonardian, picnicky feel), or like the later Frenchmen who belly-landed on the beach in Tintin and the Red Sea Sharks, when we finally slapped down into the ocean, nobody would be dead: saved yet again by cooperative action and by our own cabin pressure system.

(Room Temperature, Nicholson Baker, 1990)

The author has used a literary device in creating the text, a relatively lengthy chain of sub-clauses and interrupting clauses, which would be clearer were they segmented into separate main clauses. The text, perhaps, refers obliquely, or implicitly, to a deadly jet aircraft incident. The device seems to construe a sense of disbelief, deliriousness, edification and irony in the character, directly subsequent to the crash, to the reader.

The relative lack of separated segments helps to construe this, in effect, shock to the reader, as, without much pause from one clause to the other, all the subsidiary clauses detail the overarching concept of the first two independent clauses (it was a calming bit of self-paced instruction in the behavior of compressible fluids; it was even a useful deception of sorts), which themselves seem to refer only obliquely to an accident.

An attempt at a split comment pattern of topical progression,

It was a calming bit of self-paced instruction in the behavior of compressible fluids; it was even a useful deception of sorts, since after an hour of feeling that spotlight of air playing over your face, your thoughts full of the remembered sight of contrails in a blue sky as seen from earth. First, that is with respect to the way they first appear like narrow staves of music a little way behind a very high plane, and gradually fatten into shaving-cream crudities before fading. Secondly, l refer to the cold rides in the back of pickup trucks…

Finally, l loved the author's use of the word earth rather than Earth...

2. Macrostructure

Find below the headings for a book on the Himalayas. Consider how you would group these headings (sequential order, level of heading). What difference to the publication does it make if you change the order or omit any of them? Would the structure change according to whether it’s was a printed or an electronic publication?

First, I might put them into the topic-based categories, with the more important for travel of those at the front ('preparing to go') and the back of the book ('travel matters', 'index'): as a travel guide it will be easier to access them there. However, the 'introduction' and 'photography' sections in the preliminary pages would also help to shape the reader's expectations of its primary contents ('regions', 'what it's all about', 'tracking', and 'climbing'). Finally, the rest of the end matter ('bibliography', 'river rafting India' – further reading) might do well to supplement and authenticate the text (Mackenzie, 2012).

Sections (without headings) and subsections, as follows:–

Foreword

Introduction 

Acknowledgements

Preparing to go

Fitness

Visas

Permits

Regulations

Immunisation

Money

Clothing and equipment 

Photography

Regions 

The Himalayan region

Kashmir

Nepal

Pakistan

Tibet

Bhutan

What’s it all about?

Natural history

History of trekking

Geography

The silk road

Culture and religion

Politics

Climate and seasons

Conservation

Trekking

Trekking styles

Choosing a trek

Trekking peaks

Climbing

Climbing - what’s involved 

Climbing styles 

What mountain

Altitude sickness

Travel matters

Cultural considerations

Staying healthy

Language

Glossary

Index

River rafting India 

Bibliography

3. Bonus question. Can you identify which famous (old) novel this synopsis is describing? 

A: Tristram Shandy

Participant of research for Psychology 105 (for MQuni)

Native Australian English speakers only - Glottalisation in Australian English

Australian Hearing Hub Level 1 

Brief Description: The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the links between speech production and perception in Australian English speakers and listeners.

Detailed Description: 
The study is being conducted by Josh Penney from the Department of Linguistics to meet the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy under the supervision of A/Prof Felicity Cox and Dr Anita Szakay and in association with Dr Sallyanne Palethorpe. If you decide to participate, you will participate in a perception task where you will listen to a set of computer generated words and select words from a list that match what you hear. We will also ask you to complete a short (5 mins) demographic questionnaire, which will be emailed to you upon sign-up. All tasks will be explained before you start.

Grammar & Meaning: Text analysis (for MQuni; unit grade – Distinction)

Linguistics degree

grade 82.5%

complete submission here

Advanced Spanish: Film Script (for MQuni; unit grade – Credit)

SLAS

Another semester done. Some submissions here from Spanish.

Advanced Spanish: Letter of Resignation (for MQuni; unit grade – Credit)

Linguistics Careers Wheel

Bachelor of Linguistics and Language Sciences (BLingLangSc)

Bachelor of Linguistics and Language Sciences, Specialising in applied linguistics as per handbook:

"The Bachelor of Linguistics and Language Sciences provides students with an in-depth foundation in the skills and knowledge necessary in the diverse field of linguistics that can form the basis for future studies in a wide range of educational, applied or research related areas or to employment in workplaces that require those highly skilled in communication and language.

Students are given the opportunity to study human language in one of the most diverse Linguistics Departments in Australia with access to one of the best-equipped research and clinical environments in the world for linguistics, speech, hearing, language and cognitive science. Subjects taken in this degree will provide students with discipline-specific knowledge in their chosen areas of specialisation. Students will learn how to analyse the structure of language from a range of perspectives including how we produce, perceive and understand spoken language. They will learn the commonalities and differences between the world's languages from both technical (e.g. phonetics and syntax) and sociocultural perspectives. Some aspects of this degree focus on how language is represented in the brain, the relationship between language and society, how it develops in children learning their first language and in children and adults learning a second or other language. Students may also select subjects that involve learning about speech and language disorders, or hearing and its disorders.

The Bachelor of Linguistics and Language Sciences aims to develop graduates who have a broad understanding of how human language works which has application to further study in teaching English language to adult learners (TESOL), editing and"

    Specialising in Applied Linguistics,

                   Core units 

Advanced Spanish: The Tale of Hormiguita y Luz (for MQuni; unit grade – Distinction)

SLAS

Un Cuento de Hadas

Érase una vez un hormiguita macho. Su hogar formaba una cadena de hogares muy adentro de un monte de tierra, El Monte de Trabajo, adentro que vivía con sus padres. Arriba del monte existía un hueco que daba luz a las cadenas. Alumbraba, brillaba, titilaba, y, a veces quedaba sin luz. 

Como a veces El Hormiguita Macho sentía algo oscuro en los confines del monte, admiraba la luz. 

Pero, la idea de meterse en ella nunca se le había ocurrido hasta el momento en que despertó de un sueño.

Mientras hablaba con el guardia, bien conocido a su familia, el Hormiga Macho de Fuego, le pidió que le dijera cómo subían las hormigas a las hileras más altas donde se puede salir por el Místico Huequito. <<No puede usted>>. Dio un respingo <<No desespere, amigo, hormiguita. Siempre hay un método, y... mi consejo es que trabaje con fuerza, y La Reina, la custodia de la luz, sí se dará cuenta de Vd. ¡Por supuesto se dará!>> Se quedó inquietado y parecía impaciente mientras escuchaba. <<¡Mire!>> exclamó el guardia. <<Mira,>> le aseguró en voz baja, <<anda mañana al Túnel Vertical que se queda en El Centro de la Red que guardo yo, y veremos…>>

Se despertó El Hormiguita Macho. Corrió con rapidez hasta El Centro. 

¡Sin embargo, a llegar fue parado por una hormiga hembra de fuego desconocida, debajo suya corrió, subiendo con alta velocidad el gran Túnel Vertical!

Mientras tanto, en la cámera real, La Reina preguntó a su guardia por qué faltaba en la cadena una hormiga. <<Porque ha escapado un hormiga macho>> le contestó. Se interesaba La Reina, <<otra vez más>>. Un susurro. <<Se dice que querría saber lo que hay en el exterior, para traerlo o contarlo a su familia.>>

<<Y por lo tanto, lo dejaremos salir,>> respondió La Reina…

Después de un viaje larguísimo, llegó El Hormiguita Macho a la puerta real, la cual le abriría rumbo fijo a la apertura de luz, la que sería clave entender todo y que le revelaría todo, para bien o para mal. 

Y lo que es más, la puerta estaba abierta. 

Apenas había cruzado la cámera al Místico Huequito, captando todos los detalles que podía de él, vio a un hormiga macho de fuego que le resultó familiar, con una sonrisa irónica... A la vez, vio un fundo de nubarrones y un gran espacio inconcebible. Le latía el corazón…

Volvió La Reina <<¿Ha llegado nuestro desertor?>>. <<Por suerte, no>>, contestó El Hormiga Macho de Fuego. <<Pero, de visita, sí vino alguien… volvió a su familia veloz como un rayo>>.

<<Con paciencia, le aconsejé.>>

– Mateo Rozynski

Advanced Spanish: Short Story (for MQuni; unit grade – Credit)

SLAS

La Humedad

(Eng. trans. below)

La vista de planchas de metal corrugadas, de madera y ladrillos rescatados se estrechaba por ambos lados. Un brillante sol bien caliente se mantenía por encima de la pista Illia, en la sombra de que empezaba el día para 40.000 buenos villeros. Durante una racha de mucha humedad, salió un chico al camino principal del cuarto pequeño que ocupaba. 

Tan decrépita estaba su ropa que a cualquier otra persona, aún a alguien habituado a este tipo de vida, le hubiera molestado salir en tales harapos. Sin embargo, en este lugar, hubiera sido difícil llamar la atención de nadie por la ropa. Con respecto a la proximidad a la estación terminal y a la población del barrio legítimo, la cual se componía de burdeles, vendedores, prestamistas, artesanos, abogados, todos apiñados juntos entre los callejones de Buenos Aires norte, en tal pintoresco lugar hubiera sido raro sorprenderse al encontrar a un narcotraficante como Diego.  

Muy cerca de la puerta del honcho de Villa 51, a pesar de su juventud, el tema en que pensaba menos, era su ropa. <<¡Villano! ¿Qué estoy pensando?>> Hablaba solo, últimamente. Estaba lleno de voluntad, pero cansado.

La madrina y el hermano de Diego dormían en el centro de la villa dentro de una cantina de tipo improvisado. Diego se instalaba justo a lado de la cantina y de la lavandería de la zona. Lo que él quería era que se mudaran a un lugar cerquita del exterior, aunque Noelia hacía notar que <<pronto cambiará la villa toda cuando la legitimen>>. No obstante, desde ese lugar, Diego calculaba, podrían vender pan de grasa a los pasajeros de tren y no estarían sometidos al calor y al jaleo de la cantina. Años después, su hermano y Noelia recordarían el centro con cariño.

Sin embargo, mientras Diego se paraba en la puerta del honcho, tuvo una idea muy clara: si le entregaba <<algo a la policía>> que, afortunadamente <<sé que pasará la entrada al mediodía mañana>>, sería una manera para lograr que se mudaran. De todos modos, casi no se notaba el olor, la humedad y el ruido en su cuarto. Era por su madrina y hermano que solía caminar los callejones por la noche. Era por ellos que solía caminar el tan familiar trecho hasta la puerta en cuestión. 

Una estratosfera de color rosa se suspendía sobre la ciudad de Buenos Aires. El calor ahogaba.

<<Boludo, no tengo tiempo para estar acá parado en mi puerta toda la noche>>. <<Ya sé...>> le contestó Diego al honcho, habiendo determinado ya la ubicación del artículo valioso y la llave detrás del televisor. <<Se van mañana los pibes al flete estacionado en el almacén. A las doce en punto>> — una treta — <<¿…Jorgito?>>. Se flexionó un músculo… Diego esperaba. <<En punto, decís – y qué importa eso? Tenemos un compromiso, tonto: viene más mercancía para el verano al terminal>> le respondió. <<¿Te olvidaste?>> – Diego se quedó quieto – <<Relajate, va mi novia a ayudarme esta vez>> – aún mejor – <<así que a la noche volvemos>>.<<Jorge, si me necesitás, me mandás un texto... Che, que buen armario tenés. ¡Espacioso! Ja.>> – frunció el ceño – <<Un buen lugar para guardar la mercancía… o no, ¿eh…?>>. <<¡¿Y qué importa, imbécil?!>>, le interrumpió. 

Casi de vuelta a la cantina, exhaló, aliviado. <<Le habré abierto el armario a la policía a las doce y media, antes de que hayan vuelto.>> Comenzó a comer con Noelia y su hermano. <<¡Pero, qué malo esto! ¿Realmente lo haré?>>

– Mateo Rozynski

Writing this was inspired by an experience I had being met with a kid (knife in hand) outside Retiro railway terminus while in Buenos Aires in 2013, just outside of Villa 21.

Should Buenos Aires slum become official neighbourhood? – The Guardian