Cigdem Göle

Now that you have become a grandpa yourself, someone will take care of you too, won't they?

"I knew all along" said Zambodian Yap Flapper at today's press conference.

Thanks for reviving this thread.

Or maybe pining for the fjords.

Yes. The number of posts you have made in this thread proves it. To the contrary I have. (Including the 'Hang a Brit' post which was such a theatrical masterpiece in its substance that it makes one think this Larouche person must have a terribly empty feeling in his skull) It is not my health care system, it's the UK's.

It is amazing that some have so much to say about a health care system they don't even experience. And it is you who calls people 'nut case/wacko'?!

Thu Sep 24, 2:03 pm ET AP ANKARA, Turkey – Osman Ertugrul Osmanoglu, the eldest member of the former Ottoman dynasty, has died, officials said Thursday. He was 97. Osmanoglu died of kidney failure at an Istanbul hospital on Wednesday, the Culture Ministry said. He was the last surviving grandson of an Ottoman sultan and regarded as the head of the living members of the dynasty. Osmanoglu would eventually have become its sultan but for the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923 following the collapse of the Ottoman dynasty and the exile of its members to Europe. Osmanoglu moved to New York City in 1933, and was married to Zeynep Tarzi, an exiled member of the Afghan royal family. He returned to Turkey in 1992 and was granted Turkish citizenship in 2004. He was a descendant of Osman I, the Anatolian ruler who established the Ottoman Empire that eventually controlled parts of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and lasted about 600 years. Osmanoglu was born in 1912. His grandfather, Abdul Hamid II, ruled from 1876 to 1909. In 1924, the royal family was expelled by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who led the revolution that deposed the family and founded the Turkish Republic. He is survived by his wife, Tarzi. The funeral is expected to be held in Istanbul on Saturday ----------- There is an informative website about the history of the Ottoman Empire for those who would like to discover more about it. http://www.theottomans.org/english/index.asp

I gave up believing that when I began teaching in the university. Of course my views are based on the teacher training programs carried out in universities. I don't have any experience as to how it is done in primary, secondary or high schools or if it is effective there.

The issue is that teacher trainers are full of ideas most of which do not work in the classroom. And having to listen to them for hours explaining how to teach what (grammar, vocabulary etc) gets extremely boring after thirteen years Maybe it will be best to divide trainers in two groups; those who are still actively teaching and those who are not. It's the the second group of teacher trainers who come up with the most unrealistic ideas. Most probably because they have been away from the classroom for so long that they have forgotten what really works and what doesn't.

You're welcome. You might also find this link helpful, personally I do! www.mustteachertrainerstortureteachers.com

What a great resource. Cigdem, are you involved in this project? No, I'm not. It's just one of the resources I use and find quite helpful. However,I was briefly involved in the Distance Turkish Learning Program carried out by Ankara University. http://www.turkish-center.com/ I'm currently working in the Testing Office and Integrated Skills Program (aside from teaching full time) for the English Preparatory Classes of upper-intermediate and advanced levels in AU School of Foreign Languages.

1.Reference 2.Lang.Activities 3.Tests 4. Media 5.Vlibraries 6.TESOL 7.Elearning & OnlineCourseDesign 8.Lang.testing 9.Open & Distance Learning 10.Webtools http://www.englishstudydirect.com/OSAC/ebookappling1.htm

Date : 11/09/2009 Location :AU, School of Foreign Languages

I agree with Kathy. It seems like the reason for some to want a rule change is to be able to insult each other a bit more freely, as if the existing name calling/labelling game was not repulsive enough. If the rule is changed, surely, the ones benefiting from it will be those who dominate the Forum by trying to ram their world views down our throats in each of the posts they make or those who hang around the Forum 24/7 like a police patrol car only to jump in every thread regardless of the subject and those who use bullying people online as a means of self-satisfaction.

Perfect English Doctor's office, Rome: Specialist In Women and Other Diseases In an elevator, China : Be sure not to take lift when on fire. In a hotel, Japan : You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid. Dry Cleaners, Bangkok: Drop your trousers here for the best results. In a Nairobi restaurant: Customers who find our waitresses rude ought to see the manager. Tokyo Hotel's rules and regulations: Guests are requested not to smoke or do other disgusting behaviours in bed. In the lobby of a Moscow hotel : You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists and writers are buried daily except Thursday. Airline ticket office, Copenhagen: We take your bags and send them in all directions. In a shop in Ephesus, Turkey: Genuine Fake Watches Outside a Paris clothes shop: Dresses for street walking. In an elevator, Malta: Attention In an Emergency When the lift stops because of power cut,do not be afraid but stay calm. Do not touch the door nor the pushes of numbers 0,1,2,3. But you have to shout until somebody hears you. In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist: Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists. In a Budapest zoo: Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty. From a Japanese information booklet about using a hotel air conditioner: Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of warm in your room, please control yourself.

Tanabai walked through the steppe bridle slung over his shoulder. Tears ran down his cheeks, wetting his beard. He did not wipe them away. He was weeping for the pacer Gulsary. The old man looked at the new morning through his tears, at the lonely grey goose flying swiftly over the foothills. The goose was hurrying, it was catching up with the flock. "Hurry! Catch up with your kin before your wings give out," Tanabai whispered. Then he sighed and said, "Farewell, Gulsary!" --- Farewell, Gulsary Cengiz Aytmatov

We experienced more or less the same things here after the earthquake. The families who lost their relatives in the poorly built houses sued only the building contractors who didn't have Mafia connections. And it is said that only 1/3 of the money raised was spent on victims' needs.

Marmara earthquake marks its 10th anniversary Friday, August 14, 2009 ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News An extensive series on 1999 Marmara Earthquake will provide a wide range of information for Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review readers on what has happened since August 17. Meanwhile, in an earthquake conference that started Friday, authorities tell the preparations for the possible major Istanbul earthquake While Turkey prepares to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 1999 Marmara earthquake on Monday, the man in charge of managing disasters in the country said Turkey is now one of the most capable countries in handling natural disasters. This is one of those statements you've got to laugh at to keep from crying. More than 17,000 people died according to the official data... Having lost four relatives (two of whom were children) under the rubble and having seen the disaster with my own eyes, I can say the number was much bigger. Probably around 40.000. The officials who gave licence to poorly built houses are as guilty as those who built them. The North Anatolian Fault Line is a very active line and another major earthquake is on its way, most likely to hit Istanbul, where hundreds of licenced/unlicenced constructions are built everyday. After ten long years, very little has changed, if any.

Institution of Higher Education has announced a 8% raise in state university fees. According to the announcement the students of Medicine and also the ones studying Foreign Languages will be paying the highest fee. The students and the families are protesting the raise all over the country saying they cannot afford it and that the inequality among the amount of money required for attending different faculties should be stopped. I wonder if the high fees is a problem in other countries as well.

John, Like I said, I explained the reasons for my "withdrawal" to the administration and asked them to keep it confidential. Therefore, there is no such thing as admins being inactive. It was my request from them and they kindly accepted it. I'd appreciate if you just drop it! By the way, there was no need for an apology. Always a pleasure to talk to you.

David, The JFK assassination is not the only subject that is being discussed on the Forum, in case you haven't noticed. There are also discussions going on about 9/11, Apollo Missions and government conspiracies. I, too, like most people here believe there was a conspiracy in the JFK assassination and you can see it by looking at my posts on the JFK Lancer Forum. However, that does not mean I believe each and every conspiracy theory posted here or that I am only interested in conspiracies. The Education Forum is a gold mine for those who would like to discuss many issues on many different topics, and David, I am sure the assassination of JFK is not your only field of interest, so why don't you open threads or participate in the ones that are non-conspiracy related? But you do. I find your "blame it on the teacher" thesis quite unreasonable. There have always been and will be "morons" who lack critical and creative thinking. Even an educator cannot give anyone anything that they refuse to receive. Being obsessed with only one thing and rejecting -to even talk about- everything else is the point of this discussion. And "grasp of reality" is not a quality but a luxury for those who got stuck on repeat.

Congratulations, Stephen I wish the little lady a healthy and a happy life

John, While I appreciate some of the positiveness in your statements, I am not sure you understand the point I am trying to make. I was not targeting you or your non-responsiveness to my posts, so I'm a bit surprised you take it personally. The main idea there was that the number of non conspiracy related topics being few. It had nothing to do with me expecting a reply from a particular person. Good luck with that. Since you are the topic starter, it is up to you to decide what you are going to do with it. I am sure you will come back for more but before doing so, I advise you to reread my previous post and try to evaluate what I wrote with an objective point of view. You might as well want to take a hike, for oxygen helps one to think more clearly.

John, Thank you for your kind comments, compliments and birthday wishes. I haven't left, I was away on holiday but it's true that I haven't been participating in the Forum much lately. One of the reasons for that is there are always more conspiracy oriented discussions here than educational ones. Of course one can get educated and enlightened (!) by reading conspiracy theories too, but personally I find most of them hard to believe, to put it mildly. In my opinion, a great deal of these theories are the works of paranoid-minded people who can't even spell their own language, so for me, most are far from being interesting, let alone convincing. I wish there were also discussions going on other than 9/11, JFK and government conspiracies. I have opened some topics in other sections hoping to talk about non-conspirational subjects but there was/is little partcipation, if any. Therefore I don't see a reason to start more threads that nobody cares about. Even my last thread, which was about Albert Speer, was about to turn into a JFK debate. As for being a moderator, I asked Andy to be excused from the job because of the reasons I will not go into. The Education Forum is the second online community I have joined and my experiences in both communities have taught me well that in a male dominated crowd, it doesn't matter how intellectual, not so intellectual, well-informed or ignorant a woman is, people are always interested in something else. And this is enough reason for me to stay away. Thanks again for your concern but I wish you hadn't put me under the spotlight by opening such a thread. I've had my say and explained my reasons for quitting moderation to Andy and I don't want to get involved in further discussions about this.

It's not surprising that you couldn't post the image. You can't even spell !