Gorey-esque grammar
Because our one-size-fits-all general education courses have to cater to the lowest common denominator, the freshman comp teachers are forced to spend about the first four weeks of the semester on grammar. Sad but true. The students hate learning it, and the instructors hate teaching it, so it's a fun way to kick off the semester.
This afternoon one of my coworkers brought in a copy of The Deluxe Transitive Vampire, which our expatriate former coworker recommended. I only got to flip through it, but my impression is that if Edward Gorey wrote and illustrated a grammar textbook, this would be it. One page I randomly turned to had a picture of a rat aiming a pistol and the sentence "The rat shot the pizza chef."
I have to track down a copy at once--possibly for creative writing club, but more likely just for my own nerdy amusement.
On a tangentially related note, I heard on NPR that there's a 2009 version of The Electric Company coming out this month. I don't remember much about that show, but I've been told that I learned to read at a precocious age because of it. I may have to TiVo an episode for old times' sake.
This afternoon one of my coworkers brought in a copy of The Deluxe Transitive Vampire, which our expatriate former coworker recommended. I only got to flip through it, but my impression is that if Edward Gorey wrote and illustrated a grammar textbook, this would be it. One page I randomly turned to had a picture of a rat aiming a pistol and the sentence "The rat shot the pizza chef."
I have to track down a copy at once--possibly for creative writing club, but more likely just for my own nerdy amusement.
On a tangentially related note, I heard on NPR that there's a 2009 version of The Electric Company coming out this month. I don't remember much about that show, but I've been told that I learned to read at a precocious age because of it. I may have to TiVo an episode for old times' sake.
posted by Madame Defarge at 4:29 PM
2 Comments:
Oh my god, that sounds like the coolest grammar book ever. I may have to get a copy myself.
I use Michael Clay Thompson's Magic Lense grammar (available through his website.) We went to a conference with him, and at the end of the two day lecture, I finally understood grammar. I found it very helpful for teaching parts of speech, sentence, phrases and clauses. Not so much with sentence construction, but it makes the kids think. Might be a bit below what a college professor would teach, but very effective with the high school kids.
Most of our college kids are probably at the same level or below your high school students. The beauty of the open admissions philosophy... I'll mention it to my coworker. I think the Transitive Vampire book is awesome, but I have a feeling the vocabulary alone is way over our students' heads. (She uses the word "divulged" in her explanation of the subject.)
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