MSI Press Blog

  My trainer of a few years back watched me doing L-sits in the captain's chair and asked, “Is that hard? Let me help.” Now, when a trainer offers to help , I have learned to be suspicious. Help generally means making an exercise harder, not easier. Sure enough, she put a ball between my ankles and encouraged me to “hold onto that and swing right and left with it while maintaining a good-form L-sit.” And so I did. I miss that ball! Now L-sits are not nearly as interesting. The problem is not that I can no longer do the exercise. The problem is that I have no one to put the ball between my ankles! Getting into position in the captain's chair requires me to climb partway up the equipment, position my forearms on the supports, and lift myself into place. Trying to accomplish all that while simultaneously holding a ball between my ankles would be quite a feat of gymnastics in itself. Once I am in position, of course, my hands are occupied supporting my body. I cannot exactly reach ...

  Saturday is going to be a special day! Two MSI Press authors are having a special event. Chris Richards, author of  Nothing So Broken , will be doing a book signing at 244 School Street in Winchendon, MA. If you are in that area at noon, stop by! Literary Titan Gold Award Sample reviews: "compelling," "must-read," "a triumph" (Amazon customers) CB Leaver, author of  Nothing So Broken , and one of the oldest CHARGE Syndrome survivors, will be having his 47th birthday party at Pizza Factory in San Juan Bautista, CA. All are invited, drop by if you are in town at 6 pm. Sample review: "Brilliant!" (Mark Witzel, Amazon) Two authors, two coasts, two points of fun! Best wishes to both on their special day. CONTACT editor@msipress.com FOR A REVIEW COPY MSI Press, a veteran-owned publishing house based in California , United States best known for turning new writers into award-winning authors, has gained mass recognition for releasing highly acclaimed...

  Teaching Humor, Cultural Understanding, and Near-Native Proficiency A language learner can understand a political speech, read a sophisticated novel, participate in professional negotiations, and discuss complex philosophical ideas—and still fail to understand a simple joke. Everyone else laughs. The learner smiles politely, wondering what was so funny. Sometimes the learner understands every word. Sometimes even the grammar presents no difficulty. Yet the humor remains elusive. Why? Because understanding humor often requires much more than linguistic proficiency. It demands cultural knowledge, pragmatic competence, sensitivity to implied meanings, and the ability to recognize when speakers deliberately violate expectations. And all of this must often happen in a fraction of a second. Humor represents one of the most demanding forms of language comprehension, and understanding it spontaneously can be a hallmark of near-native proficiency. That does not mean learners must reach ne...

  For generations, language classrooms have revolved around textbooks. Students open to Chapter 1, learn the assigned vocabulary, study a grammatical structure, complete exercises, and move on to Chapter 2. By the end of the course, they may have covered hundreds of pages, memorized thousands of words, and completed numerous examinations. But have they learned to communicate? Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, not nearly as well as their grades might suggest.  The proble m is not necessarily the textbook itself. Well-designed textbooks can provide useful explanations, carefully sequenced material, and valuable practice. The problem arises when the textbook becomes the curriculum rather than a resource supporting the curriculum. Textbook-free teaching offers another possibility. Instead of organizing instruction around a publisher's sequence of chapters, teachers organize learning around what students need to accomplish with the language. This seemingly simple change can have profound ...