Extensive Reading World Congress next week in Seoul, Korea
I am really excited about attending (and presenting at) the ERWC next week in Seoul. I was forced to cancel my plans for the first one due to fallout from the earthquake, so this is going to be my first time at the global extensive reading event.
Details are here, the schedule is here, and I am hoping to see you there 🙂
Update Frequency Poll Results
A big thank you to everyone who participated in the update frequency poll this week. The results were fairly conclusive:
| Every day | 0 | 0% |
| Five times a week | 0 | 0% |
| Three times a week | 2 | 17% |
| Twice a week | 4 | 33% |
| Once a week | 2 | 17% |
| Other | 4 | 33% |
The ‘other’ responses were basically ‘whenever you like’, ‘weekly or fortnightly’, and ‘when you have something to say’ 🙂
I am going to move to a twice a week schedule with the blog, attempting to write something meaningful on Tuesdays and Fridays.
Wish me luck!
Update frequency poll preliminary results
Well, so far the poll seems to be indicating a preference for less frequent updates. Please click through and answer it if you haven’t already. I’ll close it and post results on Friday.
How much do you want it?
This post came out of a conversation I had on Facebook with my friend Mark. It reminded me of something I believe, and showed me how it applied to various different aspects of life in the same way.
We were talking about financial independence (which I define as not having to work for money because your basic needs are met by passive income) and it struck me that this is almost exactly the same as English ability.
Pretty much everyone I know would like to be good at English. If I could give them a magic pill (or upload it to their brain, a la Matrix) not one of them would turn it down. How to actually get good at English is not really a secret, either. Do a lot of reading and listening in English, speak as much as possible, and after enough practice you will be fairly competent. The thing is, few people are willing to put in the time and effort to do this.
Much like financial independence, which comes from spending less than you make and investing the difference. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t want to be financially independent, either.
As a teacher, this is kind of tough for me.
I am not going to make much difference here. All my students want to be good at English, and most of them know what they should be doing to get there. They just aren’t motivated enough.
So I guess my job is to cajole, persuade, inform, and support. Maybe I can get a few more people to take the red pill 🙂
Update frequency poll
Hi everyone
A bit of housekeeping today. I’d like to figure out what my audience would like from the blog. My posting schedule varies from every day when I am feeling productive, all the way down to not posting for several weeks or months.
One thing I have noticed is that I get a lot more traffic when I post every day.
However, in my own blog-reading habits, I don’t normally want to see daily updates (I find they clog my inbox and rss reader). I much prefer a one to three posts a week schedule for almost all blogs I follow.
Of course, this blog is not all about me, but rather you, loyal readers. How frequently would you like to see new posts from me? I’d be really grateful if you could answer the poll below (just choose one of the options and click ‘submit’).