Comments on: A short diversion in which we advert to ancient Chinese wisdom

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:33:07 +0000

A fun and interesting article.

But what about:

“If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.”

I always thought knowing my students and their needs was vital to success.
(I guess that makes the students the enemy???)

By: Sputnik

Sputnik — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 06:01:33 +0000

Glad you liked it Paula – I like your idea too: famous thinkers do TESL. That should keep me warm during the cold winter months.

By: Paula

Paula — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:32:39 +0000

Bravo– brightened my day considerably. Next? Machiavelli perhaps?

By: Sputnik

Sputnik — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:45:37 +0000

Cheers guys – I’m glad you enjoyed it.
I do like the idea of my students standing by me unto death, Nicky. It makes me think of those students who’ve stuck with me to proficiency level and then have to suffer the torture of Upstream’s on-the-cheap 200-accents-to-an-actor listenings.
As for management, Andy, there’s so many it’s almost indecent to pick one, but this did catch my eye:
On the day that you take up your command, block the frontier passes, destroy the official tallies, and stop the passage of all emissaries.

By: Andy Hockley

Andy Hockley — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:08:14 +0000

Fantastic post. Thanks for brightening my day.

There’s even one for my management course students:
It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of teaching English that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on

By: Nicky

Nicky — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:20:51 +0000

Brilliant stuff. The simple substitution of “teaching” for “war”, “students” for “enemy”(or “soldiers) and “classroom” for field yields endless results. How about these examples:

“Regard your *students* as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death!” (whoa…)

“Though we have heard of stupid haste in *teaching*, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.” (okay, i follow you there…)

Or this one, which flies in the face of modern practice: “Bestow rewards without regard to rule, issue orders without regard to previous arrangements; and you will be able to handle a whole *class* as though you had to do with but a single man.”

I could go on and on, but I won’t. Bravo.