The Language of the Pirates

How did the pirates really talk?

In this question we learned that pirates did not really talk like they are commonly portrayed. Given that they were professional sailors, they probably had a wide store of nautical jargon; but what would be an example of speech that would typify a pirate, such as Blackbeard? Would the captains and officers have notably different speech from the rest of the crew?

1.  Accent - Sotaque

What was the regional accent of the stereotypical 17th- and 18th-century pirate?

I think you mean, in films, why are all pirates from Bristol? Simply, because they arrrrr!

For many people, myself included, the archetypal pirates' accent was that popularised by Robert Newton, who appeared in more than 50 films, most notably as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, a role he reprised on TV in the mid-1950s.

Newton was born in Shaftesbury, Dorset, and spoke with a distinctive West Country accent. Aboard most English/British ships, there were significant numbers of Scots (William "Captain" Kidd), Irish (Walter Kennedy), and Welsh (Admiral Sir Henry Morgan) sailors. It seems, however, that the largest group of sailors came from the south-west of England (Edward Teach, AKA "Blackbeard" was a native of Bristol and Francis Drake was from Tavistock in Devon) than anywhere else, which is unsurprising, given the pre-eminence of Bristol as the main trading port with the West Indies. So Newton's accent may well have been historically accurate.

The accents must have been diverse. Reference to Black Bart Roberts and The Book of Welsh Pirates and Buccaneers, both by Terry Breverton, shows the birth places of captured pirates in the early 18th century to include Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Greece, Ghent, Liverpool, Antigua, Bristol, Canterbury, Whitby, York, Devon, Cornwall, Wiltshire, Berwick, Jersey, the Isle of Man and London.

Additionally, substantial numbers of crew members were escaped slaves of African descent from Antigua, and seamen from Sierra Leone. All crew members were treated equally, regardless of race, and shared the spoils.

It's probable that the pirate William Dampier, born in 1651 at East Coker, spoke with a Somerset accent, at least in his early years. He possessed remarkable intellect, and while engaged in questionable buccaneering activities he studied the animals, birds, botany and weather systems encountered on his travels. Later, as a more respectable captain of a Royal Navy ship, he circumnavigated three times and reached Australia before Captain Cook. His early home still stands in East Coker, and a plaque in the church reads: "To the memory of William Dampier, Buccaneer, Explorer, Hydrographer."

2. Vocabulary

Ahoy
Ahoy is the pirate equivalent of a greeting.
It can also be used in relation to incoming ships.

The  Pirate says: "Ahoy mates!" Or "Ship ahoy!"

Aye
The pirate equivalent of "yes", aye can be used in a number is circumstances.
Captain says: "Will you bilge Pirate?"
Pirate says: "Aye, I will!"

Avast!
Literally means "stop," but it is also a piratey exclamation of surprise.
Pirate says: "Avast! It be the black ship!"

Arrr!
"Arrr" can be used by a pirate in almost any context. It can be used to express a pirate's approval, as a verbal declaration of his or her anger or sometimes as simply a way to ensure everybody around knows you are a vicious bloodthirsty pirate.
1) Pirate says: "Arrr! This be good grog!"
2) Pirate says: "Arrr! Matey!
Be
"Be" is commonly used by pirates in place of "am," "are," or "is." The past tense of "be" is "were" in singular and plural.

Bilge
The bilge is the very lowest level of a ship and is usually filled with filthy water. One of the puzzles in the game requires pirates to pump this water back out into the sea (making the ship more buoyant and faster.) It is also used to mean nonsense.

Black Spotted
Marked for death. In Puzzle Pirates, black-spotted pirates cannot communicate with others for a certain amount of time.

Booty
Goods and property gotten by force or piracy.

Hornswaggle
To cheat or defraud. Hornswaggling is a common occurrence amongst such dishonest folk as pirates.

Marooned
Abandoned on a deserted island or coast.

The Ignorant Schoolmaster

In The Ignorant Schoolmaster, Rancière uses the historical figure of Joseph Jacotot as a way of discussing human nature, education, pedagogy, ignorance, intelligence, and emancipation. These ideas have profound implications on the nature of schooling and research, and the role that teachers and scholars play.

Joseph Jacotot (1770-1840)
Jacotot was a French instructor who taught subjects as far-ranging as French, literature, mathematics, ideology and law (p. 1). He had a profound realization one time when he had to teach a group of Flemish students French. Since he didn’t know Flemish himself, he had the challenge of teaching these students French.

Explication
The conventional view of the teacher’s (or master’s, as Rancière calls it), is to “explicate”. But Jacotot noticed that his Flemish students were able to learn French without any explication from him. He had given them a bilingual text of Télémaque; using that, his students were able to eventually under French grammar and spelling, using a text that was aimed for adults, and not “simplified” for school children. Jacotot (or maybe Rancière?) was inspired to ask: Were schoolmaster’s explications superfluous? (p. 4) Rancière believes that explication stultifies learning by short-circuiting the journey that the student is able to make. Teachers who rely on explication inadvertently creates a “veil of ignorance” (p. 6) what the student is expected to learn, thus creating a world of superior (i.e. the master, the explicator) and inferior (i.e. the student, the ignorant). But Rancière believes that all people are capable of learning without explication because they have all acquired their mother tongues without explication (p. 5, 10). They learn, imitate, and correct themselves, and universally, all children will grow up to understand their parents without every spent one day in school. Why do we presume this intelligence goes away?

Emancipation
Rancière distinguishes between two human traits: intelligence and will. In Jacotot’s classroom, there are two wills (the students’ and Jacotot’s) and two intelligences (the students’ and the book’s). Students may need to follow the teacher’s will, who guides them towards the subject. But stultification occurs when the students’ intelligences are linked with the teacher’s, when they have to rely on the schoolmaster to explain what they have learned. The opposite of stultification is, therefore, emancipation. But who emancipates? Once again, conventionally, it is the scholar, the philosopher, the wise, the learned, the Teachers College doctoral student. But Rancière believes that the only way to emancipate is when an intelligence obeys only itself even if its will obeys another’s will (p. 13). In reality, universal teaching has existed since the beginning of the world, alongside all the explicative methods...Everyone has done this experiment a thousand times in life, and yet it has never occurred to someone to say to someone else: I’ve learned many things without explanations, I think that you can too... (p. 16)In Jacotot’s class, the students learned using their own methods, not his. And in the end, they learned French, and they have done so using the oldest method in the world: universal teaching.

Ignorance
Rancière argues that the “Socratic Method” is a perfected form of stultification, where the role of the Master is to interrogate (demand speech) and verify that intelligence is done with attention (p. 29). Even if these pedagogies are aimed at “empowering” the student, it is still done so after the master has verified it. Thus, it is still the master’s method, not the student’s.
The ignorant schoolmaster does not verify what the student has found, only that the student has searched (p. 31). This means that anyone, including illiterate parents, can teach their children how to read and write. For example, they can question whether they pronounce the same word each time in the same way, or hide it under their hand and ask the student what is under it. This is true not only for re

Intelligence
Most people become stultified because they believe in their inferiority (p. 39). And superior minds can only be superior if they can make everyone else inferior. Thus we never break out of that circle, not matter how generous our intentions may be. The word intelligence is often understood as a number, or variable, that describes different people’s capacities to comprehend complex ideas or solve logic problems. But Rancière believes that everyone has the same intelligence (p. 50). He argues that a statement like “Bob is smarter because he produces better work” is a tautological statement that explains nothing. It’s true that people will produce different types of work, but he doesn’t see this as the result of different intelligence, but as a result of not bringing sufficient attention to the work.

Will
Intelligence has to do with attention while will has to do with the “power to be moved” (p. 54). Rancière argues that each of us represents a will that is served by an intelligence. We see, analyze, compare, reason, correct, reconsider, on an everyday basis. We do not always learn the same things because we do not pay the same amount of attention to the situation. Furthermore, he suggests that “[m]eaning is the work of the will” (p. 56). He calls “secret” of universal teaching, something that geniuses all know. All humans are capable of anything they want.

Language
Jacotot/Rancière believed that truth cannot be told. When it is expressed in language it becomes fragmented (p. 60). Hence, he goes into the arbitrariness of language to suggest that there is no language that is superior than others because they are equally arbitrary. Intelligence does not have a language. As Jacotot argued, we are not intelligent because we speak; we are intelligent because we exist. But this is not a problem. It is precisely because all languages are arbitrary that we employ all we have access to (including but not limited to language) in expressing truth. (p. 62) Rancière calls our expression through language as a form of art, like improvisation. He calls “telling the story” and “figuring things out” the two master operations of intelligence (p. 64). He believes that the artist is the exact opposite of the professor. He argues: “Each one of us is an artist to the extent that he carries out a double process; he is not content to be a mere journeyman but wants to make all work a means of expression, and he is not content to feel something but tries to impart it to others” (p. 70).

Source: http://www.studyplace.org/wiki/Ignorant_Schoolmaster

Possessive Pronouns

The Captain of My Soul

"Enter silently and listen to the Kingdon of the Words, 

it will give you the language you want to speak"  

Entre silenciosamente no estudo de uma língua estrangeira para conseguir dominar esse mar turbulento que é um idioma estrangeiro;  copo vazio, entrando surdamente no Reino das Palavras, como ensinava Drummond a quem queria fazer poesia.

Poem, eita coisinha difícil de parir; linguagem assim como a poesia exige tempo e cuidado, carinho e atenção, sim, entramos no Reino das Palavras para adquirir o idioma que queremos dominar.

Tudo o que se sabe, o que posso compartilhar com vocês, pois já estive no Reino das Palavras para aprender as minhas palavras - e believe-me, tudo o que um professor tem para compartilhar é a sua experiência - all o que eu sei é que a língua com todas as suas palavras e encantamentos se encontra lá, aguardando-nos pacientemente, esperando que possamos segurá-la - GRAB - e aproveitar o máximo essa oportunidade que é falar um outro idioma, mas para falar esse idioma é preciso, encantar-se, se deixar encantar pelas palavras que são brinquedos, e como todo brinquedo ( brinquedo são ferramentas inúteis para os adultos ) , o idioma no começo, serve apenas como enigma a ser decifrado, brincado, imaginado, não serve lá para muita coisa, e servir para algo, pelo menos para os adultos, é ferramenta de se fazer dinheiro; palavras são brinquedos, ferramenta de criança que pode até ser inútil, mas serve para fazer imaginação e criança só aprende a ser adulto quando desenvolve a sua imaginação e a imaginação vira pensamento que ziguezague aqui e lá e acaba se tornando mais que dinheiro, é sonho realizado , sonho se um melhor emprego, sonho de uma casa nova, sonho de viagem para além do mar. 

Quem não tem imaginação, não se arrisca beyond do mar. Os reis e rainha europeus não tinham imaginação, por isso, o mundo para eles era quadrado, Colombo tinha imaginação de sobra e comparou o mundo ao ovo, Colombo deve ter sido uma criança que brincava muito com as coisas do mundo, só assim para explicar gente que nasce em um mundo quadrado e o imagina redondo. Quem não tem imaginação fica com o barco à deriva, quem não tem imaginação não sabe pensar bem os seus pensamentos - os pensamentos que o pensam. Viver sem imaginação é deixar o barco sem capitão, qualquer coisa o leva, qualquer coisa o manipula; manipula em sua língua mãe, imagina numa segunda. É ai que reside o medo, medo de ser enganado e de cometer erros.  Não digo que seja possível viver sem medo, pois o medo é essencial para aprendermos, assim como o erro - mistakes - mas não dá para viver bem sem imaginação, sem criatividade. O Reino das Palavras permite a sua entrada, mas só mostra os seus tesouros se você souber brincar e usar a sua criatividade. Você ainda sabe se divertir? Ou você adultou de vez? No fun no gain!!!!

É somente errando que aprendemos - the right to be wrong - um bom marinheiro é feito de mar turbulento - e é somente com a experiência de navegar com um barco por um mar de palavras soltas que aprendemos a juntá-las e formar frases, dai surge a poesia que é quando o piar se faz canto e nos tornamos os Capitães das nossas palavras, Capitão da Língua, Capitão da Alma...The Captain of our Souls.

"Captain of my Soul

I wanna be

I gonna grab this chance

I will make the most out of here"

O Captain! My Captain!

by Walt Whitman 

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, 

The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won, 

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, 

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; 

But O heart! heart! heart!

O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up- for you the flag is flung- for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths- for you the shores a-crowding, 

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here Captain! dear father! 

 This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that on the deck, You've fallen cold and dead. 

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, 

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult O shores, and ring O bells! But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org

Kind Regards,

Prepositions: at, in and on.

Muito pra dedeu!

The Learning Tree

"We are learning about our tree, olê aiaô;

We are learning about our tree, olê aiaô" 

Let's aprender sobre uma árvore que eu vi nos meus sonhos and que eu a chamo de Learning Tree, a árvore do aprendizado. Nessa árvore, there is a pássaro que representa todo aluno que deseja ser aprendiz de algo. Essa árvore representa a escola, o conhecimento, aquilo que já estava lá antes, o conhecimento bruto, a matéria que não muda, que permanece te esperando, nos esperando; o que muda são as folhas, galhos que quebram e galhos que nascem e crescem, a fruta madura e a semente. 

Essa árvore pode ficar lá por um tempo, there is árvore que tem mais de mil anos, eu conheço uma que tem mais de cem anos, ela se chama Árvore das Lágrimas e dá nome a rua que eu moro, Estrada das Lágrimas. Conta à lenda que a estrada que hoje é aminha casa - once upon a time - era uma passagem, uma estrada que ligava a capital ao litoral e o povo, que ia embora para além do mar, tinha que passar por lá e a família, a gurizada, as mulheres se despediam naquele lugar e ficavam ao pé da árvore chorando, se despedindo - saying goodbye - esperando o futuro trazer de volta seu passado nos braços dos seus amados.  

Sim, as árvores tell estórias, guardam lembranças e a árvore that eu vi no meu sonho, possuía o aprendizado, por ela fluíam as palavras que precisamos colher, sim, somos passarinhos - little birds - that pousam nessa árvore para colher sementes de aprendizado e espalhar nossa lenda por aí. E por ser essa árvore, árvore de conto de fada, sonho de professor louco, os passarinhos aparecem nos ninhos - nests - quebrando os seus ovos - o que significa a crença que eles conseguem viver fora da zona de conforto de não saber algo - e piar - tweet tweet.

O pio! A fala! - at the beginning , esse piar é meio torto, é estranho, assim é quando começamos a falar inglês. Chegamos à escola - a árvore - em nossas cascas, protegidos pelo ninho, a segurança e conforto de continuarmos sendo quem somos, e aí é que mora o perigo - " viver é perigoso" dizia Guimarães Rosa e aprender algo novo é perigoso pois pode mudar a gente. E toda vez que aprendemos algo novo, nos tornamos esse algo novo. 

This é o segredo do aprendizado, só aprendemos quando aquilo que absorvemos passa a fazer parte da gente. E esse algo novo, o novo, nos obriga a quebrar a casca do egg e ao nos vermos novos, só nos resta piar e esse piar é só um treino para a viagem que acabou de começar...

"We have learned about our tree, olê aiaô

We have learned about our tree, olê aiaô"

The Social Learning

By Michelle Garcia Winner, CCC-SLP

 Our goal in developing the Social Thinking-Social Learning Tree, as well as the myriad Social Thinking materials, worksheets, books, and presentations is to demystify the process of social engagement and social interpretation. By doing so, we help adult educators, caregivers, and policy makers better understand how we can get to the root of the social learning challenges our students and clients face, and teach more efficiently and effectively from there.

Brief review of the ILAUGH Model of Social Thinking

I = Initiation of Language. Initiation of language is the ability to use one’s language skills to seek assistance or information. A student’s ability to talk about his own topics of interest can be in sharp contrast to how that student communicates when he needs help. Students with social cognitive deficits often have difficulty asking for help, seeking clarification, and initiating appropriate social entrance and exit with other people.

L= Listening With Eyes and Brain. Most persons with social cognitive deficits have difficulty with auditory comprehension. Listening, however, requires more than just taking in auditory information. It also requires individuals to integrate information they see and hear around them, such as the context of the situation and nonverbal cues from others, to fully interpret the spoken or unspoken message. Teachers depend heavily on the notion that all students are able to attend nonverbally to the expectations in the classroom. Being a “good listener” includes not just paying attention to what is being said, but more importantly, attending to the verbal and nonverbal cues that surround the words.

A = Abstract and Inferential Language/Communication. Communicative comprehension requires both literal and figurative interpretations. To be successful in interpreting abstract communication, an individual needs to pay attention to four aspects of communication:

1. what the listener knows about the speaker and his/her motive for communicating

2. in what context the message is being shared

3. the literal words used

4. the nonverbal ways the message is coded along with related physical gestures

Abstract and inferential meaning is often conveyed subtly, through verbal and nonverbal communication coupled with social knowledge of the people and situation. This skill begins to develop in the preschool years and continues across our school years as the messages we are to interpret, both socially and academically, become more abstract. Interpretation depends in part on one’s ability to “make a smart guess.” It also depends on one’s ability to take the perspective of another. Abstract and inferential language interpretation is heavily woven into our language arts, social studies, and science curriculums. It is also a skill set heavily applied in play and conversation.

U = Understanding Perspective. This is the ability to understand the emotions, thoughts, beliefs, experiences, motives, intentions, and personality of yourself as well as others. Students intuitively begin to acquire this skill in early childhood development. Neurotypical students acquire a solid foundation of perspective taking between the ages of four to six as they discover how to manipulate and understand other people’s minds. Children continue to refine their knowledge of others’ minds across their lives.  The ability to take perspective is key to being part of any type of group (social or academic). It is integral to academic subjects that require understanding other people’s minds, such as reading comprehension, history, social studies, etc. It is also key for formulating clear written expression. Weakness in perspective taking is a significant part of the diagnosis of social cognitive deficits.

G=Gestalt Processing/Getting the Big Picture.Information is conveyed through concepts and not just facts. Being able to relate the little bits of information to a whole is gestalt processing in a nutshell. When individuals participate in a conversation they intuitively understand the underlying concept being discussed. This knowledge helps them stay on track, make relevant comments, know when they’re veering off topic. When reading, one has to follow the overall meaning (concept) rather than just collect a series of facts. Like the other elements mentioned above, conceptual processing is another key component to understanding social and academic information. Furthermore, conceptual processing and organizational strategies (as well as other executive function tasks) go hand in hand.  Weakness in one area is usually accompanied by weakness in the other. Children who struggle to relate parts of a project to each other, or manage their time to get assignments done by the deadline are typically weak in gestalt processing. Challenges in this skill can greatly impact one’s ability to formulate written expression, summarize reading passages, and manage one’s homework load.

H= Humor and Human Relatedness. Most of our clients have a very good sense of humor, but they feel anxious since they miss many of the subtle cues that help them understand how to participate successfully with others. It is important for educators and parents to work compassionately and with humor to help minimize the anxiety these children are experiencing. At the same time, many of our clients use humor inappropriately; direct lessons about this topic are often required.

Human relatedness is at the heart of social interaction. While virtually all of our clients desire some form of social interaction, they have difficulty relating to others’ minds, emotions and needs. Establishing the concept of human relatedness and what it means to be part of the flowing give and take of human relationships is essential before trying to make headway in any of the above lessons. First we must establish a connection of our own with our students. 

Find additional articles and information at our Social Thinking website: www.socialthinking.com.

Knowing the name of the fruits

O Dia da Onça

Eu não sei a idade dos meus alunos. Nem quero saber! Não tenho essa preocupação quando me são designados novos alunos. Prefiro conhecê-los pelos olhos e tentar adivinhar o que vai por dentro de seus corações. Quais as suas dores, em que eles acreditam, o que é que os fazem felizes? Por que eles chegaram até mim?

O que normalmente encontro é uma criança escondida ali, ainda cheia de vontade de brincar mas sufocada desde a adolescência pela padronização do mundo adulto. Há uma saudade de rir sem malícia, de criar, de experimentar, de imaginar, de viver simples, de ser livre, de viver coisas bonitas. Quem não se lembra como era bom ficar deitado no chão, olhando as nuvens tomando formas. E depois da chuva avistar um arco-íris. E brincar com as sombras quando faltava a luz? Quem nunca fez isso quando criança? Daí a explicação por minhas aulas serem tão, digamos, diferentes... A gente brinca!

O que encontrei nos olhos do Uilson e do Eduardo, o primeiro com mais de trinta e o segundo com menos, foram meninos curiosos e inteligentes, capazes de aprender muitas coisas, bastando para isso serem estimulados. Como a maioria dos adultos, eles diziam que não tinham tempo para homework. Até que um dia eu virei onça! (De mentirinha, é claro!) Coloquei a fantasia, fiz um monte de caretas e falei entre rugidos de minha frustração quando percebia que eles nem se lembravam do que havíamos estudado aula passada. Os meninos levaram um susto e a brincadeira a sério, entenderam como "bronca" e fizeram homework sim, e dos mais bonitos e caprichados que eu já vi. Edu, capricha na criação de frases e elaboração de exercícios e me faz muitas deliciosas perguntas mostrando que ele está interessado naquilo que está aprendendo. Já o Uilson ficou fascinado pelas letras gordas desenhadas pela professora e encheu-as de cores e de palavras e de enfeites e criou frases e saboreou tudo com a gula de um menino. Resultado? Ele aprendeu tudo direitinho!

Quem dera eu tivesse realmente o poder de apagar suas dores de adulto com meu apagador de lousa! Apaga... a... dor. Entendeu, leitor?

Menino Uilson, menino Eduardo, I am very proud of you both and I know how much you can do. In you, I trust!

Teacher Suele Mello