Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with writing and reading

Teaching English, reading and writing to a 15 yr old street kid who's never been to school.

ferdinandcc — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:42:57 -0800

Do you have any advice for teaching English comprehension, as well as reading and writing, to a fifteen year old Filipino street kid who's never been to school a day in his life? I run a nonprofit in the Philippines, and a 15 year old street kid has sort of adopted me. His mom is incarcerated for life, and his stepdad abandoned him, so he'd been sleeping alone on the streets outside a fast food restaurant. He's never been to school, and doesn't know how to read or write (although he knew how to spell his first name and I've taught him how to spell his last name). I've been pretty impressed, however, with how quickly he learns things (and it's astonishing to see how well he's basically parented himself).

The problem with most ESL learning tools I've found is that they either assume you know your alphabet and can sound out words, or they assume you're a baby.

Right now, I can't afford Rosetta Stone, but I've used Rosetta Stone in the past to help myself learn Tagalog, so I sort of just started recreating the basic flashcard style concept so I can work with him online, over the cam while I'm in the states, and my assistant helps him in the Philippines.

I've also been reading books to him like The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish… etc., but he'd much rather watch older kids' cartoons like Dragonball Z than childish books like these. I also have many age levels of the Kumon books on ESL, but again, the ones at his education level are mostly for kindergartners.

Can you recommend any good activities, books, DVDs, web sites, online videos, games, anything that teaches reading and writing in a way that doesn't patronize an older child?

I think I'm doing pretty good at teaching him (and he's doing amazingly well at learning), but I know there's room for improvement and I've always gotten amazing results from asking questions here. Toss me some of your most creative ideas. Or some of your most obvious ideas. Sometimes it's the obvious ones that most elude me.

Tell me about this sentence construction

peep — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:23:06 -0800

Tell me everything you know about this sentence construction: "Are you finished your lunch?" In the past few months, I've heard the following three sentences while watching cartoons with my son.

1. "Are you finished your lunch?"
2. "I'm all finished my book."
3. "I'm finished the decorations."

At first I thought the sentence must have been misdubbed or something - like it was written "Have you finished . . ." and there was an error in recording the voice and they just left it. But three times (and on different shows)?

I'm in the US. Is this a regional thing, or common in English speaking countries other than the US? I'm 33, and I had never before heard this construction, nor seen it in print or noticed it in anything I've read on the web.

Have you heard this? Do you use it? Where are you from and what languages do you speak? Any details appreciated.

Books that feature great writing AND great storytelling?

shotgunbooty — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:06:48 -0800

Books that feature great writing AND great storytelling? Often critically acclaimed books feature great writing but weak storytelling (DeLillo is a fantastic stylist), great storytelling with lackluster prose (Dostoyevsky perhaps), but rarely both sentences to savor and stories to remember (Jane Austen).

Please recommend some books that feature both great sentences and paragraphs AND brilliant storytelling!

These don't have be novels. Short story recommendations are welcomed as is non-fiction.

Where can I find the best writing on the internet?

jpg15 — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:29:38 -0800

Is there a web site which recommends the best writing on the net on a periodic basis? There are plenty of great blogs and websites out there to read, and no shortage of recommendations. This post, for example, recommends lots of different sites. But I find my own interest in wading through all of it on a feed reader gradually waning. I am wondering if anyone knows of any human-run site which recommends excellent writing.

I am interested in high quality, thoughtful, even controversial writing on any subject. The closest thing to this that I am aware of is Arts & Letters Daily, but a significant number of their posts are book reviews or appeal strictly to very well-read humanities students. I am interested in suggestions which draw from the features and opinions of all of the major US (or English-speaking world!) newspapers, magazines, blogs, and sites.

Loved it! Hated it!

carmen — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:57:24 -0800

What do you love about popular books on society, history, and human sciences? What do you hate about them? I'm preparing a proposal to write my thesis as a public anthropology book for this competition. I know that one of the most important things is the writing style, of course. I'm looking more for what you liked about structure, presentation, and themes.

(I can elaborate a little on what my book is about if that's important, but I want to keep it broad for now.)

Inspirational Sentences

shotgunbooty — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:54:06 -0800

I am trying to build a library of inspirational sentences. In "How to Read Like a Writer", Francine Prose suggests collecting inspirational sentences, and collecting work by writers who have "obviously worked on their sentences". She recommends Stanley Elkin. More names that come to mind are Philip Roth and Alice Munro.

What would you choose for your library of inspirational sentences? What other writers would you recommend who have obviously worked on their sentences?

Great American Novels

Busoni — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:06:00 -0800

People talk about "writing the Great American Novel." What do you think are valid examples of the G.A.N.? What novels, American or otherwise, did you enjoy reading and wish you had written?

Seeking original, unique, oddball novels and stories

mizrachi — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:51:51 -0800

What are your favorite unconventional novels and short stories? In particular, I am interested in works told in unique ways, such as through correspondence, journal entries, marginalia, footnotes, diaries, multiple narrators, textual/visual manipulation and other unclassifiable approaches to novel writing.

Quiet Place to Write in NYC?

airguitar2 — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 08:53:24 -0800

Help me find a quiet place in Brooklyn/ Manhattan to read and write. I used to go to the Poets House reading room in Soho-- wonderful, quiet, natural light, big tables-- but it's closed until November. Any recommendations for other reading rooms/libraries/quiet places where one can read and write?

Coffee shops are too noisy for me. The main reading room in the NYPL on 42nd St. is filled with echoes and electronic beeps.

There must be somewhere I can work undisturbed in the city! Ideally: smallish, natural light, tables, extreme quiet. Thanks!

Looking for lowbrow books

reenum — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 20:35:23 -0800

Looking for sites or reviewers who review books other than literary fiction I've gotten into Bookgasm and I love it. I've realized that I'm not that into literary fiction. I prefer books that are plot-based, rather than character-based. So, that gets me into genre fiction or non-fiction stuff. I'm not into sci-fi at all.

Problem is, most sources like Bookslut and NY Times Book Review devote most of their reviews to literary fiction.

So, are there any other sites or magazines out there like Bookgasm? Meaning well written reviews of books that are not literary fiction?

Writing without reading?

5MeoCMP — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:34:13 -0800

Can anyone suggest why my daughter can write just fine, but apparently can't read? My 4.5 year old daughter loves to write letters to her friends, as in 2-3 pages of 4-year-old scrawl (where sometimes the letters are all on top of each other, or turn corners to fit on the page, and so on). The spelling is entirely phonetic, and the grammar is all as spoken, of course, but it's legible to most people who've read kids writing before.

The think is, she doesn't read. She knows her letters, and can sound out 3-letter words with time, but just doesn't "get it" when presented with even 2 4-letter words on paper. If asked what they say, she'll often run away, curl up, or turn away and pretend not to be able to hear you.

In other ways, she's a normal kid. Curious, musical, likes to dance. A bit clumsy, occasionally shy and occasionally gregarious.

I always thought that kids learned to read before they learned to write. Any hints on what might be going on here? Note: I'm don't want to change her; but I am wondering if we should be prepared for anything.

The tip of the tongue, taking a trip to the foreignerland.

GrooveStix — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:51:23 -0800

I am in a search of a program that will help me memorize words... I am an avid reader, but since English is my second language, I've been using dictionary a lot. I've noticed that I had to look up the same words twice, thrice and so on, so for some time I've been thinking about making a word collection and sticking everything on my wall in a post-it-note fashion. Now, writing every word down will prove a tedious task. For example, I was reading Nabokov's Lolita (which by the way, molested me on more than one level) :) and I can't even remember how many times I had to look through a dictionary per single paragraph.

What I am looking for is software or something, that will automate the whole process, where I copy/paste a certain definition in the program (or whatever) and that would create (PDF perhaps?) pages that I can later print, cut and stick on my wall.

Does anybody know something resembling what I am describing?

Help me make sense (reading/writing)

unknowncommand — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 10:20:14 -0800

I have problems reading and writing in a linear fashion. For example, when I am reading, I literally move my eyes in a circle around the words. I also skip tons of words. I feel like I get the meaning, but then the overall style and "feel" of the text bugs the crap out of me. I am hypersensitive to the author's style. For the most part, I do not enjoy reading. This makes me really defensive, which I also do not enjoy.

I also strongly dislike writing in a linear way. If I set out to write something in an orderly fashion, inevitably I will forget half the words and need to make up new words. For example, if I were to write the way that I *wanted* to write, the sentence I wrote before this one would sound like this, "When directed in the way of orderly formality (writing/expression), inevitably/conseqencely/determination succeeds/fails to provide verbiage adequately/primarily/normally/stereotypically/prescriptively. New forms (neologisms) are requisite." Yes. I said, "consequencely." That makes no sense.

So yay! Bored, irritated circular reader. Nonsense writer. Which is actually fine, except in school. Most importantly, the graduate studies that I have recently begun. Yikes. I feel really dumb.

So. Fix me. Can I relearn this? It was never a problem when I was a kid. I loved reading and maxed out my library limit constantly. Is it the internet's fault? Or typing rather than script? I would like to enjoy these things.

Mutant hybrid office supplies

doift — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:22:37 -0800

Flat pencil or pen that can be used as a bookmark- does such a thing exist successfully? Recently, I was reading a book in which I needed to underline things, and I took it on some errands on the subway with me. I was using a regular mechanical pencil as a bookmark so I could underline as needed. However, the book wouldn't close properly, and the pencil kept sliding out of the book when it was in my bag, and it was annoying. Also, like many people, I sometimes like to carry a notebook and pen or pencil around with me, and have similar troubles then. It occurred to me that a flat or nearly flat writing instrument that could double as a bookmark would be an extremely useful thing. Google search produced these "flat sketching pencils", which still seem too thick. This comment in a previous thread led to these pens, which seem kind of cheap and poor quality, and also maybe too thick.

My question, then, is: Does a really good implementation of this idea already exist? Or are the above-linked examples the best we have for now? Has anyone encountered any interesting bookmark/pencil hybrids in the wild?

What is your personal narrative?

loiseau — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 07:13:33 -0800

Do you have any recommendations for solid creative non-fiction magazine columns or the like? I'm a writer and I really enjoy both reading and writing personal narratives like the NYT's "Modern Love" column or the Nerve "Personal Essays" section... the kind of thing which is sometimes called "creative non-fiction".

With a view to both finding new regular reads and finding new markets for my own writing, I'm looking for recommendations for this style of magazine writing, or anything you think is related and worth exploring. I'd prefer stuff I can read online for free, but I'm not particularly excited for Joe or Jane Blogger, unless they're professional and write in a more thoughtful memoir style, rather than this-is-what-my-kid-did-today.

Thank ye!

Please help me identify a short story

reenum — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 07:58:49 -0800

I remember a friend of mine telling me about a short story/novel/novella about a baseball pitcher whose pitched balls disappeared after leaving his hand, only to reappear in a totally different place and kill someone. There's I think he mentioned that the story was by Stephen King, but I'm not sure if King is the one who wrote it. It sounds a bit like his horror stuff.

I've tried everything to find this story, short of sitting down for a month or two and wading through King's entire oeuvre.

Is there anyone out there who might be able to point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

Merrily we scroll along...

sourwookie — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 07:22:37 -0800

So I've tried a few apps that allow me to take large chunks of text and import them to my iPod, making an "eBook" of sorts. The first thing I tested it with was the Mcsweeny's big old page of funny food reviews, and I liked it... So what else do I load? Any recommendations for good, light reading?

Sure, there's the Project Guttenberg stuff, but I don't wish to tackle Paradise Lost on an iPod.

I want light, funny entertaining content. It must be light on the links, as there is no linkage on an iPod. Brunching shuttlecocks would be great, but all those columns are tiny, and I would have to load them all individually.

Any longish, one page essays (as in one url--not length), short stories, novellas you all like? Nothing too heavy and comedy is preffered (though not vital.)

Ideas for language/literature-based events

lalalana — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 17:58:31 -0800

I'm interested in learning more about language/literature-based events. Not so much the traditional poetry reading, more like innovative ways people come together in a relaxed environment to do some sort of activity that revolves around reading stuff aloud and telling stories. I know about the old Fray Cafes, and I know that This American Life had a letter-reading show a few years ago, and I know about the Cringe Readings, where people read from their embarrassing adolescent journals and the like, and I know about the Little Gray Book Lectures .

Anyone know about more these kinds of things? Any interesting ideas for new events of this kind? Experiences promoting and organizing this kind of thing?

What do you write in your reading journal, if you keep one?

lustra — Sat, 07 May 2005 15:45:45 -0800

If you keep a journal based on what you read, how do you do it, what do you put in it, do you use a standard format, what do your entries consist of, etc? Newly inspired by the cool reading journal in the latest Levenger catalogue, I want to start one of my own, rather than just making and losing random notes as I have always done. I am not particularly interested in **buying** a reading journal, from Levenger or anyone else, but I do want to start keeping one, either in one of my blank Moleskins or in a loose-leaf folder or something. So I'd appreciate hearing about any cool tricks or formats or whatever that you use. If, for example. you were going to make a journal entry based on reading Love's Labors' Lost, what would you put in it? Thanks, Lustra