Voices and Visions

RAINY DAY in RIYADH

The worst rain,wind and hail storm to hit Saudi Arabia's capital city since 1996 struck about 2:30 local time on Monday afternoon, May 3. The day dawned bright and sunny and blue skies were still around in the early afternoon. But the clouds began to gather quickly about 1 p.m. and by 2:30 an eerie orange sky warned that a storm was coming.

And when it came, it brought wind gusts over 60 mph, driving rain and hail. At the American International School of Riyadh, large vinyl sun screens and the steel arms that anchored them were ripped down. Tree branches were snapped off and debris skimmed through the air.

Riyadh roadways were quickly inundated, turning the highways into raging rivers. Many intersections were flooded with from three to almost seven feet of water. Thousands of people were stranded in stalled vehicles and incredible gridlock. Some people reported that their usual 45-minute commute turned into harrowing 7 and 8-hour oddysies. Two people were reported to have died and hundreds of others were reported injured in the chaos.

With debris waiting to be cleaned up and the roadways still under water in many areas, the American International School in Riyadh called off classes on Tuesday, May 4, for one of the rare times in its 60-year history.

By Wednesday, May 5, most roads were passable, the debris was being cleared and schools and businesses reopened. But those of us who saw it won't soon forget May 3, the day the rain ravaged Riyadh.

(Photos courtesy Alriyadh Daily Paper: http://www.alriyadh.com/2010/05/03/article522524.html)

Speaking of Writing...

Remember when you were learning to speak? No? Then maybe you remember watching your child -- or someone's child -- learning to speak. Either way, no doubt you fondly recall how the adult teacher presented the grammar of the English language in all its nuances in order to facilitate the acquisition of spoken language by the young learner. You recall the instruction regarding the proper formation of sentences: "A sentence must have a subject and a predicate. The subject must be a noun or prounoun (the name of a person, place or thing or the word that represents that person, place or thing), and the predicate must be a verb, a word that shows action or state of being, such as 'is'...."

You don't remember that? People don't learn to speak by first studying the conventions of grammar? Really...

Then what makes you -- well, maybe not you, but most folks -- think people should learn to write not by mimicking what writers do, but by studying grammar?

We learn to speak without knowing a SINGLE thing about grammar. Not one whit. Nada. We hear other people talk, and we try to do the same thing. And that's the best way to teach writing. Great writers don't need to know a SINGLE thing about grammar. Not one whit. Nada. All kids -- or anyone else -- learning to write need to do is mimic good writers. Being able to identify a conjunction doesn't make anyone a better writer. Research actually supports that common sense notion.

So knock off with the grammar already. You want to teach kids to write? You want to teach adults to write? Throw away the grammar books. Replace them with examples of the kind of writing the students want to do: a personal essay, a literary analysis, a movie or book review, a sports story, a report, a legal brief, a medical diagnosis... Do that and you'll teach someone to be a great writer, and to love writing.

But if you want to teach someone to be a poor writer and to loathe writing, teach grammar.

Whether it's speaking or writing, we learn best by following good models. Imagine what would happen if we tried to teach kids to talk the way too many people still try to teach them to write...

-- (Copyright) Mike Kielkopf, May 12, 2005