Website for Pile Driving

The website of Pile Buck International, Inc. has access to their magazine as well as links to industry news and topics. The description on the website says that they are "interested in news and technology associated with pile driving, deep foundations, and marine contracting."

http://www.pilebuckinternational.com/

Among the sections on the website is "The Buck," a list of topics in the archives. The categories include:

• construction
• deep foundation
• education
• equipment
• events
• industry news
• marine
• pile driving
• projects
• technology

 An example from the Technology section is "In-Situ Coating for Sheet Piles." The text is short, but there is a very useful video (3:50) showing how the DCI limpet cofferdam is assembled and used. The cofferdam "allows in-situ inspection, repairs and preservation of submerged areas of steel bulkhead piling." This is used to protect port, marina and canal walls.

http://www.pilebuckinternational.com/technology/

The video narration is slow and clear, with the narrator speaking British English. The visuals show the step-by-step process of assembly of the cofferdam, and then show various inspection and repair procedures that can be carried out.

This is useful for presentation skills, process description, and talking or writing about innovation.

Strange new products for strange descriptions

Example: Star Trek Pizza Cutter

The website strange new products has short articles about an eclectic mix of products in the following categories:

• auto
• clothes
• food
• gadgets
• gags
• health
• house
• media
• personal
• pets
• sports

The link: http://www.strangenewproducts.com/

The products range from useful to ridiculous (or so I thought). My students had a good time looking through the site for the products they found most interesting (for whatever reason), and I had the idea of having them rate the products they chose according to the most and least useful products.

However, the students tried to convince the rest of the class that the product they chose was a good idea, and the more ridiculous the product, the more creative their persuasive speech was!

Two examples of "more useful" products:

1) Kidz-Med non contact thermometer
http://www.strangenewproducts.com/2007/11/worlds-first-non-contact-thermometer.html

Canadian woman who reviews the product on her blog:
http://www.noliesplace.com/kidz-med-veratemp-non-contact-thermometer-review/

The product on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z78bqZAeiQ

2) Phantom Frames: LED bicycle frames that light up at night
http://www.strangenewproducts.com/2013/12/phantom-frames-led-bicycle-frames.html

And two products I thought were ridiculous, but students tried to convince me otherwise:

Star Trek pizza cutter:
http://www.strangenewproducts.com/2010/09/star-trek-pizza-cutter.html

Turn your ipod into a sex toy:
http://www.strangenewproducts.com/2006/03/turn-your-ipod-into-sex-toy.html

Products can also be rated according to other criteria; for example, funniest, strangest, most likely to impress, most embarrassing, etc.

ESP Conference in Vienna, Austria: 23-24 May 2014

There will be an ESP conference at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien (Vienna, Austria) from 23-24 May 2014. This will be the 7th UAS Language Instructors' Conference.

The theme of the conference is: Integrating Language, Culture and Purpose in ESP.

The conference website: http://esp.technikum-wien.at

The keynote speakers will be Henry Widdowson (University of Vienna) and Barbara Seidlhofer (University of Vienna). Both are not only very well known in their field, with many publications to their name, but are also extremely dynamic speakers.

I'm the organizer of this conference, and I have developed the theme and description. I think it is very important for teachers of English for Specific Purposes (for engineers and any other special-interest students) to keep up to date, share ideas with other teachers, and find ways to help themselves develop materials specific enough for their students and teaching situations to be relevant. As most (all?) of us know, this is not easy!

My description of the conference is: As the reasons to learn English have become more specific, the challenges of making content and methods relevant for ESP students have become even greater. This conference will focus on the three components of English for Specific Purposes: language, specificity and purpose.

How can we inspire and motivate our students to reach both their personal and professional potential? In which ways can technology serve as an ESP teacher's tool to help achieve this? How can we most effectively meet students' specific needs for English in multicultural societies?

These issues are among those we will be focusing on in talks, workshops and poster presentations. Every are of ESP is encouraged, including all types of engineering and technical fields, and English for business, law, management, medicine, social work, information and communication technologies, tourism, architecture, sport, aviation, etc.

By sharing a variety of strategies and approaches, we will create a forum that will enhance the professional development of teachers, materials developers, testers, course book designers and all those involved in any area of Specific Purpose language teaching.

The closing date for Speaker Proposals is 15 February 2014
Early bird registration by: 31 March 2014

To send proposals or to register, go to the conference website: http://esp.technikum-wien.at



Vienna, Austria, is a beautiful city!