Sunday, January 6, 2013

01/04/2013 - Minhgoodman134's blog - Typepad


v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} Some new points about Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language Language education is the ?teaching ?and learning of a language. It can include improving a learner's mastery of her or his native language, but the term is more commonly used with regard to second language acquisition, which means the learning of a foreign or second language and which is the topic of this article. Some scholars differentiate between acquisition and learning. Language education is a branch of applied linguistics. Need for language education??????????? ?? People need to learn a second language because of globalization, connections are becoming inevitable among nations, states and organizations which creates a huge need for knowing another language or more multilingualism. The uses of common languages are in areas such as; in trade, tourism international relations between governments, technology, media and science. Therefore, many countries such as Japan (Kubota, 1998) and China (Kirkpatrick & Zhichang, 2002) create education policies to teach at least one foreign language in primary and secondary school level. However, some countries such as India, Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines make a second official language in their governing system. However, according to Gao (2010) many Chinese people are giving enormous importance to foreign language learning especially learning the English Language. History of foreign language education Ancient to medieval period ? Although the need to learn foreign languages is almost as old as human history itself, the origins of modern language education are in the study and teaching of Latin in the 17th century. Latin had for many centuries been the dominant language of education, commerce, religion, and government in much of the Western world, but it was displaced by French, Italian, and English by the end of the 16th century. John Amos Comenius was one of many people who tried to reverse this trend. He composed a complete course for learning Latin, covering the entire school curriculum, culminating in his Opera Didactica Omnia, 1657. ? In this work, Comenius also outlined his theory of language acquisition. He is one of the first theorists to write systematically about how languages are learned and about pedagogical methodology for language acquisition. He held that language acquisition must be allied with sensation and experience. Teaching must be oral. The schoolroom should have models of things, and failing that, pictures of them. As a result, he also published the world's first illustrated children's book, Orbis Sensualim Pictus. The study of Latin diminished from the study of a living language to be used in the real world to a subject in the school curriculum. Such decline brought about a new justification for its study. It was then claimed that its study developed intellectual abilities, and the study of Latin grammar became an end in and of itself. "Grammar schools" from the 16th to 18th centuries focused on teaching the grammatical aspects of Classical Latin. Advanced students continued grammar study with the addition of rhetoric. 18th century ? The study of modern languages did not become part of the curriculum of European schools until the 18th century. Based on the purely academic study of Latin, students of modern languages did much of the same exercises, studying grammatical rules and translating abstract sentences. Oral work was minimal, and students were instead required to memorize grammatical rules and apply these to decode written texts in the target language. This tradition-inspired method became known as the 'grammar-translation method'. 19th?20th century ?? The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (November 2010) Henry Sweet was a key figure in establishing the applied linguistics tradition in language teaching.. ?? Innovation in foreign language teaching began in the 19th century and became very rapid in the 20th century. It led to a number of different and sometimes conflicting methods, each trying to be a major improvement over the previous or contemporary methods. The earliest applied linguists included Jean Manesca, Heinrich Gottfried Ollendorff (1803?1865), Henry Sweet (1845?1912), Otto Jespersen (1860?1943), and Harold Palmer (1877?1949). They worked on setting language teaching principles and approaches based on linguistic and psychological theories, but they left many of the specific practical details for others to devise. ??? Those looking at the history of foreign-language education in the 20th century and the methods of teaching (such as those related below) might be tempted to think that it is a history of failure. Very few students in U.S. universities who have a foreign language as a major manage to reach something called "minimum professional proficiency". Even the "reading knowledge" required for a PhD degree is comparable only to what second-year language students read and only very few researchers who are native English speakers can read and assess information written in languages other than English. Even a number of famous linguists are monolingual. ????? However, anecdotal evidence for successful second or foreign language learning is easy to find, leading to a Page 1 ? discrepancy between these cases and the failure of most language programs, which helps make the research of second language acquisition emotionally charged. Older methods and approaches such as the grammar translation method or the direct method are dismissed and even ridiculed as newer methods and approaches are invented and promoted as the only and complete solution to the problem of the high failure rates of foreign language students. ??? Most books on language teaching list the various methods that have been used in the past, often ending with the author's new method. These new methods are usually presented as coming only from the author's mind, as the authors generally give no credence to what was done before and do not explain how it relates to the new method. For example, descriptive linguists seem to claim unhesitatingly that there were no scientifically-based language teaching methods before their work (which led to the audio-lingual method developed for the U.S. Army in World War II). However, there is significant evidence to the contrary. It is also often inferred or even stated that older methods were completely ineffective or have died out completely when even the oldest methods are still used (e.g. the Berlitz version of the direct method). One reason for this situation is that proponents of new methods have been so sure that their ideas are so new and so correct that they could not conceive that the older ones have enough validity to cause controversy. This was in turn caused by emphasis on new scientific advances, which has tended to blind researchers to precedents in older work. There have been two major branches in the field of language learning; the empirical and theoretical, and these have almost completely separate histories, with each gaining ground over the other at one point in time or another. Examples of researchers on the empiricist side are Jesperson, Palmer, and Leonard Bloomfield, who promote mimicry and memorization with pattern drills. These methods follow from the basic empiricist position that language acquisition basically results from habits formed by conditioning and drilling. In its most extreme form, language learning is seen as basically the same as any other learning in any other species, human language being essentially the same as communication behaviors seen in other species. ?? On the theoretical side are, for example, Francois Gouin, M.D. Berlitz, and Elime de Sauz?, whose rationalist theories of language acquisition dovetail with linguistic work done by Noam Chomsky and others. These have led to a wider variety of teaching methods ranging from the grammar-translation method to Gouin's "series method" to the direct methods of Berlitz and de Sauz?. With these methods, students generate original and meaningful sentences to gain a functional knowledge of the rules of grammar. This follows from the rationalist position that man is born to think and that language use is a uniquely human trait impossible in other species. Given that human languages share many common traits, the idea is that humans share a universal grammar which is built into our brain structure. This allows us to create sentences that we have never heard before but that can still be immediately understood by anyone who understands the specific language being spoken. The rivalry of the two camps is intense, with little communication or cooperation between them. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????? Methods of foreign languages Main article: Methods of? foreign languages?????????????????????????????????? ??? Language education may take place as a general school subject or in a specialized language school. There are many methods of teaching languages. Some have fallen into relative obscurity and others are widely used; still others have a small following, but offer useful insights. While sometimes confused, the terms "approach", "method" and "technique" are hierarchical concepts. An approach is a set of correlative assumptions about the nature of language and language learning, but does not involve procedure or provide any details about how such assumptions should translate into the classroom setting. Such can be related to second language acquisition theory. There are three principal views at this level: The structural view treats language as a system of structurally related elements to code meaning (e.g. grammar). The functional view sees language as a vehicle to express or accomplish a certain function, such as requesting something. The interactive view sees language as a vehicle for the creation and maintenance of social relations, focusing on patterns of moves, acts, negotiation and interaction found in conversational exchanges. This view has been fairly dominant since the 1980s. Examples of structural methods are grammar translation and the audio-lingual method. Examples of functional methods include the oral approach / situational language teaching. Examples of interactive methods include the direct method, the series method, communicative language teaching language immersion, the proprioceptive language learning method, the Silent Way, Suggestopedia, the Natural Approach, Total Physical Response, ?Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling and Dogme language . A method is a plan for presenting the language material to be learned and should be based upon a selected approach. ?In order for an approach to be translated into a method, an instructional system must be designed considering the ? Page 2 ? objectives of the teaching/learning, how the content is to be selected and organized, the types of tasks to be performed, the roles of students and the roles of teachers. A technique is a very specific, concrete stratagem or trick designed to accomplish an immediate objective. Such are derived from the controlling method, and less-directly with the approach. Learning strategies Code switching Main article: Code-switching Code switching, that is, changing between languages at some point in a sentence or utterance, is a commonly used communication strategy among language learners and bilinguals. While traditional methods of formal instruction often discourage code switching, students, especially those placed in a language immersion situation, often use it. If viewed as a learning strategy, wherein the student uses the target language as much as possible but reverts to their native language for any element of an utterance that they are unable to produce in the target language (as, e.g., in Wolfgang Butzkamm's concept of enlightened monolingualism), then it has the advantages that it encourages fluency development and motivation and a sense of accomplishment by enabling the student to discuss topics of interest to him or her early in the learning process?before requisite vocabulary has been memorized. It is particularly effective for students whose native language is English, due to the high probability of a simple English word or short phrase being understood by the conversational partner. Blended learning Main article: Blended learning?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Blended learning combines face-to-face teaching with distance education, frequently electronic, either computer-based or web-based. It has been a major growth point in the ELT (English Language Teaching) industry over the last ten years.? Some people, though, use the phrase 'Blended Learning' to refer to learning taking place while the focus is on other activities. For example, playing a card game that requires calling for cards may allow blended learning of numbers (1 to 10). Skills teaching ?? When talking about language skills, the four basic ones are: listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, other, more socially-based skills have been identified more recently such as summarizing, describing, narrating etc. In addition, more general learning skills such as study skills and knowing how one learns have been applied to language classrooms. ??In the 1970s and 1980s the four basic skills were generally taught in isolation in a very rigid order, such as listening before speaking. However, since then, it has been recognized that we generally use more than one skill at a time, leading to more integrated exercises. Speaking is a skill that often is underrepresented in the traditional classroom. This could be due to the fact that it is considered a less-academic skills than writing, is transient and improvised (thus harder to assess and teach through rote imitation). More recent textbooks stress the importance of students working with other students in pairs and groups, sometimes the entire class. Pair and group work give opportunities for more students to participate more actively. However, supervision of pairs and groups is important to make sure everyone participates as equally as possible. Such activities also provide opportunities for peer teaching, where weaker learners can find support from stronger classmates. Language education by region Europe Foreign language education ? 1995 European Commission?s White Paper "Teaching and learning ? Towards the learning society", stated that "upon completing initial training, everyone should be proficient in two Community foreign languages". The Lisbon Summit of 2000 defined languages as one of the five key skills. ? In fact, even in 1974, at least one foreign language was compulsory in all but two European member states Ireland and the United Kingdom (apart from Scotland). By 1998 nearly all pupils in Europe studied at least one foreign language as part of their compulsory education, the only exception being the Republic of Ireland, where primary and secondary schoolchildren learn both Irish and English, but neither is considered a foreign language although a third European language is also taught. Pupils in upper secondary education learn at least two foreign languages in Belgium's Flemish community, France, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Slovakia. ?? On average in Europe, at the start of foreign language teaching, pupils have lessons for three to four hours a week. Compulsory lessons in a foreign language normally start at the end of primary school or the start of secondary school. In Luxembourg, Norway, Italy and Malta, however, the first foreign language starts at age six, in Sweden at age seven and in Belgium's Flemish community at age 10. About half of the EU's primary school ? Page 3 pupils learn a foreign language. English is the language taught most often at lower secondary level in the EU. There, 93% of children learn English. At upper secondary level, English is even more widely taught. French is taught at lower secondary level in all EU countries except Slovenia. A total of 33% of European Union pupils learn French at this level. At upper secondary level the figure drops slightly to 28%. German is taught in nearly all EU countries. A total of 13% of pupils in the European Union learn German in lower secondary education, and 20% learn it at an upper secondary level. Despite the high rate of foreign language teaching in schools, the number of adults claiming to speak a foreign language is generally lower than might be expected. This is particularly true of native English speakers: in 2004 a British survey showed that only one in 10 UK workers could speak a foreign language. Less than 5% could count to 20 in a second language, for example; 80% said they could work abroad anyway, because "everyone speaks English." In 2001, a European Commission survey found that 65.9% of people in the UK spoke only their native tongue. Since the 1990s, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages has tried to standardize the learning of languages across Europe (one of the first results being UNIcert). Bilingual education Main article: Bilingual education ? ?? In some countries, learners have lessons taken entirely in a foreign language: for example, more than half of European countries with a minority or regional language community use partial immersion to teach both the minority and the state language. ?? In the 1960s and 1970s, some central and eastern European countries created a system of bilingual schools for well-performing pupils. Subjects other than languages were taught in a foreign language. In the 1990s this system was opened to all pupils in general education, although some countries still make candidates sit an entrance exam. At the same time, Belgium's French community, France, the Netherlands, Austria and Finland also started bilingual schooling schemes. Germany meanwhile had established some bilingual schools in the late 1960s. United States Main article: Language education in the United States In most school systems, foreign language is taken in high school, with many schools requiring one to three years of foreign language in order to graduate. In some school systems, foreign language is also taught during middle school, and recently, many elementary schools have begun teaching foreign languages as well. However, foreign language immersion programs are growing in popularity, making it possible for elementary school children to begin serious development of a second language. ? In late 2009 the Center for Applied Linguistics completed an extensive survey documenting foreign language study in the United States. The most popular language is Spanish, due to the large number of recent Spanish-speaking immigrants to the United States (see Spanish in the United States). According to this survey, in 2008 88% of language programs in elementary schools taught Spanish, compared to 93% in secondary schools. Other languages taught in U.S. high schools in 2008, in descending order of frequency, were French, German, Latin, Mandarin Chinese, American Sign Language, Italian, and Japanese. During the Cold War, the United States government pushed for Russian education, and some schools still maintain their Russian programs. Other languages recently gaining popularity include Arabic. Australia ? Prior to European colonization, there were hundreds of Aboriginal languages, taught in a traditional way. The arrival of a substantial number of Irish in the first English convict ships meant that European Australia was not ever truly monolingual. When the gold rushes of the 1850s trebled the white population, it brought many more Welsh speakers, who had their own language newspapers through to the 1870s, but the absence of language education meant that these Celtic languages never flourished. ? ? Waves of European migration after World War II brought "community languages," sometimes with schools. However, from 1788 until modern times it was generally expected that immigrants would learn English and abandon their first language (Clyne, 1997). The wave of multicultural policies since the 1970s has softened aspects of these attitudes. ?? In 1982 a bipartisan committee of Australian parliamentarians was appointed and identified a number of guiding principles that would support a National Policy on Languages (NPL). Its trend was towards bilingualism in all Australians, for reasons of fairness, diversity and economics. ? Page 4 ?? In the 1990s the Australian Languages and Literacy Policy (ALLP) was introduced, building on the NPL, with extra attention being given to the economic motivations of second language learning. A distinction became drawn between priority languages and community languages. The ten priority languages identified were Mandarin, French, German, Modern Greek, Indonesian, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Spanish and Aboriginal languages. ? However, Australia's federal system meant that the NPL and ALLP direction was really an overall policy from above without much engagement from the states and territories. The NALSAS strategy united Australian Government policy with that of the states and territories. It focused on four targeted languages: Mandarin, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean. This would be integrated into studies of Society and Environment, English and Arts. ?? By 2000, the top ten languages enrolled in the final high school year were, in descending order: Japanese, French, German, Chinese, Indonesian, Italian, Greek, Vietnamese, Spanish and Arabic. In 2002, only about 10% of Year 12 included at least one Language Other Than English (LOTE) among their course choices. Japan Main article: Eikaiwa Language study holidays Language school ?? An increasing number of people are now combining holidays with language study in the native country. This enables the student to experience the target culture by meeting local people. Such a holiday often combines formal lessons, cultural excursions, leisure activities, and a homestay, perhaps with time to travel in the country afterwards. Language study holidays are popular across Europe and Asia due to the ease of transportation and variety of nearby countries. These holidays have become increasingly more popular in Central and South America in such countries as Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru. With the increasing prevalence of international business transactions, it is now important to have multiple languages at one's disposal. This is also evident in businesses outsourcing their departments to Eastern Europe. Language education on the Internet The Internet has emerged as a powerful medium to teach and learn foreign languages. Websites that provide language education on the Internet may be broadly classified under 3 categories: Language exchange websites Language portals Virtual online schools Support websites Language exchange websites ? Language exchange facilitates language learning by placing users with complementary language skills in contact with each other. For instance, User A is a native Spanish speaker and wants to learn English; User B is a native English speaker and wants to learn Spanish. Language exchange websites essentially treat knowledge of a language as a commodity, and provide a market like environment for the commodity to be exchanged. Users typically contact each other via text chat, voice-over-IP, or email. Language exchanges have also been viewed as a helpful tool to aid language learning at language schools. Language exchanges tend to benefit oral proficiency, fluency, colloquial vocabulary acquisition, and vernacular usage, rather than formal grammar or writing skills.????????????????????????????????? Portals that provide language content ?There are a number of Internet portals that offer language content, some in interactive form. Content typically includes phrases with translation in multiple languages, text to speech engines (TTS), learning activities such as quizzes or puzzles based on language concepts. While some of this content is free, a large fraction of the content on offer is available for a fee, especially where the content is tailored to the needs of language tests such as TOEFL, for the United States. ? In general, language education on the Internet provides a good supplement to real world language schooling. However, the commercial nature of the Internet, including pop-up and occasionally irrelevant text or banner ads might be seen as a distraction from a good learning experience. Virtual world-based language schools ??? These are schools operating online in MMOs and virtual worlds. Unlike other language education on the Internet, virtual world schools are usually designed as an alternative to physical schools. In 2005, the virtual world Second Life started to be used for foreign language tuition, sometimes with entire businesses being developed. ??? Foreign language English has gained an online presence, with several schools operating entirely online, and the British Council which has focused on the Teen Grid. In addition, Spain?s language and cultural institute Page 5 Instituto Cervantes has an "island" on Second Life. A list of educational projects (including some language schools) in Second Life can be found on the second life Educational wiki, or the SimTeach site. Minority language education policy ?? The principle policy arguments in favor of promoting minority language education are the need for multilingual workforces, intellectual and cultural benefits and greater inclusion in global information society. Access to education in a minority language is also seen as a human right as granted by the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the UN Human Rights Committee. Bilingual Education has been implemented in many countries including the United States, in order to promote both the use and appreciation of the minority language, as well as the majority language concerned. Materials and e-learning for minority language education Suitable resources for teaching and learning minority languages can be difficult to find and access, which has led to calls for the increased development of materials for minority language teaching. The internet offers opportunities to access a wider range of texts, audios and videos. Language learning 2.0 (the use of web 2.0 tools for language education) offers opportunities for material development for lesser-taught languages and to bring together geographically dispersed teachers and learners. Acronyms and abbreviations ?? English language learning and for information on language teaching acronyms and abbreviations which are specific to English. CALL: computer-assisted language learning CLIL: content and language integrated learning CLL: community language learning DELE: Diploma de Espa?ol como Lengua Extranjera DELF: dipl?me d'?tudes en langue fran?aise EFL English as a foreign language ELT English language teaching FLL foreign language learning FLT foreign language teaching ?????????????????????????L1: first language, native language, mother tongue L2: second language (or any additional language) LDL: Lernen durch Lehren (German for learning by teaching) SLA: second language acquisition TELL: technology-enhanced language learning TEFL: Teaching English as a foreign language N.B. This article is about travel-teaching. TEFLA: Teaching English as a foreign language to adults TPR: total physical response TPRS: Teaching ?Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling UNIcert is a European language education system of many universities based on Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. ? References Richards, Jack C.; Theodore S. Rodgers (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN?0-521-00843-3.? Diller, Karl Conrad (1978). The Language Controversy. Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House. ISBN?912066-22-9.? Holden, Susan; Mickey Rodgers (1998). English language. tMexico City: DELTI. ISBN?968-6820-12-4.? Dorveaux, Xavier (15 July 2007). "Apprendre une langue dans un monde virtuel". Le Monde. http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0,36-935560,0.html. Retrieved 15 July 2007.? Dorveaux, Xavier (15 July 2007). "Study and? in Second Life". iT's Magazines. http://www.its-teachers.com/destinations/second_life/second_life03.asp. Retrieved 15 July 2007.? Sachdev, I; McPake, J (2008). "Community Languages in Higher Education: Towards realising the potential". Routes into Languages. pp. 76. http://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/community. Retrieved 26 June 2009.? De Varennes, Fernand (2004). "The right to education and minority language". EUMAP: EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program Online Journal. http://www.eumap.org/journal/features/2004/minority_education/edminlang. Retrieved 26 June 2009.?[dead link]????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??page 6 ? ? ? National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning (1999-07). "Two-Way Bilingual Education Programs in Practice: A National and Local Perspective". Center for Applied Linguistics. http://www.cal.org/resources/Digest/ed379915.html. Retrieved 26 June 2009.? Sachdev, I; McPake, J (2008). "Community Languages in Higher Education: Towards realising the potential". Routes into Languages. pp. 61?62. http://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/community. Retrieved 26 June 2009.? Diouri, Mourad (2009). "Language learning 2.0 in action: web .0 tools to enhance language learning". 4th Plymouth e-Learning Conference 2009. http://www2.plymouth.ac.uk/e-learning/conference_proceedings_2009.pdf. Retrieved 26 June 2009.?[dead link] Ikeda, A. Sho; Doty, Christopher (14 March 2009). "New Roles for Technology in Language Maintenance and Revitalization". 1st International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (ICLDC). http://hdl.handle.net/10125/5011. Retrieved 26 June 2009.? ?? 12.Kubota, K (1998) ?Ideologies of English in Japan? World Englishes Vol.17, No.3, pp.?295?306. ?? 13.Kirkpatrick, A & Zhichang, X (2002).?Chinese pragmatic norms and ?China English?. World Englishes.Vol. 21, ???pp.?269?279. ?? 14.Gao, Xuesong (Andy). (2010).Strategic Language Learning.Multilingual Matters:Canada, 2010 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Prepared & Written by A.Golpaieganni ? Hamedan Province, Nahavand 1391 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? page 7 ? ? ? In the name of the Soul Creating God ? ???? ?????? ??? ???? ? ? ? Some new points about Teaching & Learning English as a Foreign Language . ? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ????? ???? ??????? ? ?? ????? ???? ????? ? Prepared & written by ? Ali Golpayganni ? 2012- 04 - 10

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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Will rookie QBs make playoff history?

Luck, Griffin, Wilson aim to become first rookie QB to reach Super Bowl

Getty Images

Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III (L-R) may have the best collective shot of any rookie QB class ever to play in a Super Bowl.

ANALYSIS

By Scott Kacsmar

NBCSports.com contributor

updated 9:59 a.m. ET Jan. 3, 2013

We live in a golden age of quarterbacks where six active players have won a Super Bowl ring, which is rare in NFL history. However, three of them -- Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees and Eli Manning -- will be watching the playoffs from home this season.

Taking their places are second-year players Christian Ponder (Minnesota), Colin Kaepernick (San Francisco) and Andy Dalton (Cincinnati). This is actually not surprising since the 49ers and Bengals were both in the playoffs last year, albeit with Alex Smith in 2011.

Normally that would be the story right there, but we last saw that happen in 2000 (Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper and Shaun King). Instead the big story this postseason is about the three rookie quarterbacks continuing to make history.

For the first time ever, three rookie quarterbacks have led their team to the playoffs. Now we wait to see if any of them can earn the first Super Bowl trip ever for a rookie quarterback. It would be appropriate for this record-setting class.

Rewriting the rookie record books

Andrew Luck (11-5), Russell Wilson (11-5) and Robert Griffin III (9-6) have combined for 31 wins as starters this season. That total by these three alone shatters the previous record for any rookie quarterback class since 1950. All rookies combined for 23 wins in 2011.

This instant success comes a year after Seattle (7-9), Washington (5-11) and Indianapolis (2-14) all failed to have a winning record, let alone make the playoffs.

Only eight rookie quarterbacks have ever thrown at least 20 touchdown passes, and all three of 2012?s star-studded rookie group made the cut.

Most Touchdown Passes, NFL Rookie Quarterback

RankQuarterbackTeamYearTouchdown Passes
T1Peyton ManningColts199826
T1Russell WilsonSeahawks201226
3Andrew LuckColts201223
4Charlie ConnerlyGiants194822
5Cam NewtonPanthers201121
T6Dan MarinoDolphins198320
T6Andy DaltonBengals201120
T6Robert Griffin IIIRedskins201220

Beyond the traditional stats, we have seen excellence from these rookies in critical situations such as third down and leading their team back in the fourth quarter. The following is a comparison of third-down conversion rates for several of the big-name rookie quarterbacks in recent years. The ?%Cmp1D? represents the percentage of third-down completions that resulted in a first down. Sacks and runs are included, while spikes and kneel downs are excluded.

NFL Rookie Quarterbacks - 3rd Down Conversions

QuarterbackYearAtt.1st Downs%Cmp1DConversion Rate
Andrew Luck20122028683.9%42.57%
Matt Ryan20081797670.7%42.46%
Russell Wilson20121586672.0%41.77%
Ben Roethlisberger20041305470.1%41.54%
Cam Newton20111676563.1%38.92%
Mark Sanchez20091565870.0%37.18%
Joe Flacco20081786566.7%36.52%
Sam Bradford20101936669.9%34.20%
Andy Dalton20111735870.5%33.53%
Robert Griffin III20121444756.5%32.64%
Vince Young20061524864.6%31.58%

Wilson?s hot finish caught him up to Luck by season?s end, while Griffin is still lacking relative to his peers. All three possess an impressive ability to scramble, as each had at least 12 first downs rushing (Luck had 13) on third down.

Good luck voting for the Offensive Rookie of the Year out of this group. In most years any of them would be the runaway winner.

Can a rookie quarterback win a Super Bowl?

It used to be that quarterbacks had to sit and learn for a few years before being groomed to take over one day. That philosophy is dead, and things have been trending away from it in recent years.

Not only are rookies more NFL-ready from the start, but they are taking on more responsibility from their team, and some have been delivering with huge dividends. It may be only a matter of time before we see a rookie in the Super Bowl, and when has there ever been a better chance than this season?

NFL Playoffs - Rookie Starters (Since 1960)

QuarterbackTeamYearReg. Season StartsResult
Andrew LuckColts201216TBD
Russell WilsonSeahawks201216TBD
Robert Griffin IIIRedskins201215TBD
T.J. YatesTexans20115Lost AFC-Div
Andy DaltonBengals201116Lost AFC-WC
Mark SanchezJets200915Lost AFC-C
Joe FlaccoRavens200816Lost AFC-C
Matt RyanFalcons200816Lost NFC-WC
Ben RoethlisbergerSteelers200413Lost AFC-C
Shaun KingBuccaneers19995Lost NFC-C
Todd MarinovichRaiders19911Lost AFC-WC
Jim EverettRams19865Lost NFC-WC
Bernie KosarBrowns198510Lost AFC-DIV
Dan MarinoDophins19839Lost AFC-DIV

This year?s trio will become the 12th, 13th and 14th rookie quarterbacks to start in the playoffs since 1950. The first ever playoff meeting between rookie quarterbacks took place last year between Houston?s T.J. Yates and Cincinnati?s Andy Dalton.

It will happen again on Sunday when Wilson?s Seahawks travel to play Griffin?s Redskins, ensuring us of another rookie playoff win this season.

The past has not fared too kindly to this group, as evident by their 7-11 record in the playoffs. However, we have seen four rookies reach an AFC or NFC Championship Game since 1999 (three since 2004), and they each came up just short of that Super Bowl appearance.

Let?s look at the chances each rookie has this season of playoff success.

Indianapolis Colts: Need a lot of Luck

It is no secret the Colts put more responsibility on Luck than perhaps any rookie quarterback -- or veteran for that matter -- in NFL history.

Luck?s 730 drop backs this season are the third most in NFL history. He runs the most vertical, wide receiver-centric passing game in the league, and the Colts offer little in the form of a running game or strong offensive line play.

But Luck broke the rookie passing records for a season (4,374 yards) and a game (433 yards vs. Miami). His seven game-winning drives not only smashed the rookie record, but tied the NFL?s regular season record, which was last done by Peyton Manning (2009).

Despite allowing 387 points, the most ever for a team with 11 wins, the Colts reached the playoffs with an 11-5 record, and Luck led the way with his veteran-like poise in clutch situations.

It was a fitting end to the regular season on Sunday when Luck completed a 70-yard touchdown, his longest pass of the season, on a 3rd-and-23 bullet in the fourth quarter to put away the Houston Texans.

The Colts have been overachieving all season for their cancer-stricken coach Chuck Pagano, and that kind of scrappy underdog role is going to have to carry them through the playoffs. They will need Luck?s ability to make crucial plays every step of the way, but the AFC is too top-heavy for the young Colts to make any serious noise this year.

But they have a lot to be proud of in Indianapolis again, and it starts with Luck.

Washington Redskins: Ride the wave

The 2011 Redskins? claim to fame was sweeping the New York Giants during their Super Bowl season. But with a blockbuster trade to land Robert Griffin III in the draft, Mike Shanahan?s team changed the expectations right away in Washington.

Griffin?s Week 1 debut in New Orleans was record-breaking. He threw for 320 yards, two touchdowns, no turnovers and a 139.9 passer rating. Griffin would maintain the most consistent level of high play among the rookie quarterbacks this season, even if his team did not always cooperate.

After a 3-6 start, the Redskins appeared buried, and ready for next season to come. But a winning streak started with Griffin throwing four touchdowns in back-to-back games, including a big performance on the Thanksgiving stage in Dallas.

Griffin has had plenty of help with stud rookie running back Alfred Morris (1,613 yards and 13 TDs) setting him up for the league?s most deadly play-action passing game. When Griffin injured his knee, rookie backup Kirk Cousins saved the day against Baltimore with a comeback win, then a win as a starter in Cleveland.

When Griffin returned, the Redskins had to win their final two games to clinch the NFC East, which they did in spite of their not fully healthy quarterback, who set the rookie quarterback record with 815 rushing yards.

But here the Redskins are, on a seven-game winning streak, with the highest-rated rookie passer in NFL history (102.4 passer rating). Despite rookies leading the offense in passing and rushing, the Redskins committed a league-low 14 giveaways. Griffin?s 1.3 interception percentage is another rookie record.

How far the Redskins go will largely depend on the health of Griffin, but they are home to start the playoffs for the first time since 1999, and the future finally looks bright again in Washington.

Seattle Seahawks: The best team gives Wilson the best chance

While the latest formula for rookie success has been a strong defense and a strong running game, the highly-publicized picks of Luck and Griffin reached the playoffs without that complete model.

But Russell Wilson, the third-round pick because he was barely tall enough for Space Mountain, is thriving on a team loaded with a great running game led by Marshawn Lynch, and the league?s No. 1 scoring defense and arguably best secondary.

Wilson also finished the season with a 100.0 passer rating, and he could thank the Redskins and Griffin for his second-half success. Clearly, the training wheels were on early in the season when Wilson was better known for throwing the "Fail Mary" to Golden Tate that sparked a ton of controversy.

But since the halfway point of the season, the Seahawks are 7-1, and Wilson has a passer rating of 120.3, which would start to challenge the single-season record. He completed an 8-0 season at home where Seattle had the best home scoring differential (+148) in the league.

Like Griffin, Wilson uses the play-action pass as much as any quarterback in the league. But by implementing read-option plays to take advantage of Wilson?s full physical abilities, his passing efficiency has soared, and he has started to use his legs to Griffin-level impact.

In just the last eight games Wilson rushed for 361 yards and four touchdowns, while throwing 16 touchdowns and two interceptions. His 26 touchdown passes tied Peyton Manning?s rookie record.

Seattle received a lot of buzz for the 150 points they scored in the three games played in Weeks 14-16. On a roll heading into the playoffs, the only problem is they likely will have to win three straight road games to reach the Super Bowl, missing out on the best home-field advantage in the league.

But if you had to pick one of these three teams to reach the Super Bowl, the smart pick is Wilson?s Seahawks. We will get to see him duel it out with Griffin this weekend in Washington.

No matter if they fail to get past the first or second round this season, the fact is three franchises that saw little on the horizon a year ago are now reenergized with the dream of a Super Bowl in their future.

For they have a quarterback once again, and each has plenty of room for growth.

Scott Kacsmar (@CaptainComeback) writes for Cold, Hard Football Facts, Bleacher Report, Colts Authority, and contributes data to Pro-Football-Reference.com and NFL Network.

? 2012 NBC Sports.com? Reprints

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Will rookie QBs make playoff history?

Kacsmar: Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson -- otherwise known as the best rookie QB class ever -- have their eyes on being the first rookie QB to play in a Super Bowl.

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50352912/ns/sports-nfl/

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Weight-loss wager: Lose 120 pounds, gain $6,000

When Rick and Kay Woollen of Tobaccoville, N.C., decided to lose weight last year, they didn?t rely on New Year?s resolutions to get them going. Instead, the couple turned to something stronger than willpower to help them pare the pounds: the promise of cold, hard cash.

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Friday, January 4, 2013

Beating of MP: Benkirane Summoned to Apologize to the Parliament ...

?By Jamal Saidi

Morocco World News

Casablanca, January 02, 2013

The PJD MPs, along with several other members of parliament have decided to demand the president of the government to apologize to the legislative house. The request came as a reaction to what they described as ?the insult,? following the beating of Abdessamad El Idrissi, a PJD MP, by security forces in front of the parliament.

Last Thursday, the MP was subjected to a beating after the heavy-handed intervention of security forces to disperse unemployed protestors who were demanding their integration into government jobs, according to news reports.

Mr. El Idrissi held the Pasha of Rabat responsible for what happened and explained that though he showed documents which proved his identity as an MP, he was beaten and insulted in the presence of the Pasha.

The MPs of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) are also reported to have called for a meeting, demanding the attendance of the minister of interior, the minister of justice and the general director of national security.

On the other hand, the daily Akhbar Alyawm reported that King Mohamed VI phoned President Benkirane and expressed his discontent with the way the MP was treated and called for the enforcement of the law.

Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/01/72595/beating-of-mp-benkirane-summoned-to-apologize-to-the-parliament/

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Anne Hathaway: 'I had no grit, no sex appeal'

Carlo Allegri / REUTERS

By Access Hollywood

Anne Hathaway admits that although the world once thought of her as a sweet former Disney princess, she never felt like that herself.

?For a long time it was me and (my manager) against the world. I was seen as this bizarre-world good-girl cartoon that I in no way identified with -- very vanilla, very sweet, very accessible and not interesting,? she told Harper?s Bazaar UK, as excerpted by the Daily Mail. ?I had no grit, no sex appeal.??

VIEW THE PHOTOS: The L=lovely Anne Hathaway!

Anne may now be the kind of girl who wears bondage-style boots to her ?Les Miserables? New York City premiere, but she admitted to feeling the heat in Hollywood when asked about her age -- 30.?

?It doesn?t help that the new crop of girls is so gorgeous and so 22 years old. But I?m excited about it,? she said.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Young Hollywood: Then & now

In addition to talking about her image and her age, the actress showed her softer side when talking about her husband, Adam Shulman, whom she wed in 2012.

?He walks into a room, and I light up. I can?t help it,? she said. ?A few days into (filming "Les Miserables") I said ?I?m having too much fun. I just want to play with you and I need to be really sad right now.??

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Anne Hathaway & Adam Shulman: A love story

?I knew from the second I met him that he was the love of my life,? she added.

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Lost your creativity? | Self Improvement Secrets | Montgomery ...

You need a 7 Day BrainwashI must be honest. There are some days when I sit down to write and I think there?s not a shred of creativity in me. Today, as I began, was one of those days.

So I thought, why don?t I tell them about that? How do you get creative or resourceful when it just doesn?t seem to be there?

Easy peasy, as we used to say at school. (I think we might have added ?lemon squeezy? too ? but who cares?).

I simply remember all the times I have been resourceful. I see myself sitting at my desk writing furiously, wondering how on earth so much time can have passed I?m on such a roll. I recall times when I was teaching, or explaining something passionately to my kids, or when I had to think up a plausible excuse to get myself out of a hole, or when friends dropped in unexpectedly and I concocted a meal out of a larder I had considered empty ?. the number of times any one of us has been creative and resourceful is huge.

Pretty soon, my brain is so full of ideas, I wonder if I can just keep to one a day. My posture changes, I may walk about, my breathing is different.

And you know what? You can do it the other way round too. If I change my posture, my breathing and my movements to the way I am when I feel creative, that old creative feeling comes back all by itself.

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Stricker headed for semi-retirement

Steve Stricker tees off on the first hole during a pro-am round at the Tournament of Champions golf tournament, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, in Kapalua, Hawaii. When he arrived on the shores of Maui for the season-opening Tournament of Champions, he had reached a compromise. Stricker, who turns 46 next month, is going into semi-retirement. When he leaves Kapalua, he won't return again until the Match Play Championship at the end of February. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Steve Stricker tees off on the first hole during a pro-am round at the Tournament of Champions golf tournament, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, in Kapalua, Hawaii. When he arrived on the shores of Maui for the season-opening Tournament of Champions, he had reached a compromise. Stricker, who turns 46 next month, is going into semi-retirement. When he leaves Kapalua, he won't return again until the Match Play Championship at the end of February. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Steve Stricker smiles as he greets a fan after teeing off on the first hole during a pro-am round at the Tournament of Champions golf tournament, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, in Kapalua, Hawaii. When he arrived on the shores of Maui for the season-opening Tournament of Champions, he had reached a compromise. Stricker, who turns 46 next month, is going into semi-retirement. When he leaves Kapalua, he won't return again until the Match Play Championship at the end of February. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Steve Stricker readies to tee off on the first hole during a pro-am round at the Tournament of Champions golf tournament, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013, in Kapalua, Hawaii. When he arrived on the shores of Maui for the season-opening Tournament of Champions, he had reached a compromise. Stricker, who turns 46 next month, is going into semi-retirement. When he leaves Kapalua, he won't return again until the Match Play Championship at the end of February. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

(AP) ? At the end of another long year, and only a month away from the start of another season, Steve Stricker quietly posed a question that sounded out of place for a guy with more than $25 million in PGA Tour earnings over the last six years.

"What if I went to Kapalua to defend and didn't play again the rest of the year?"

When he arrived on the shores of Maui for the season-opening Tournament of Champions, he had reached a compromise. Stricker, who turns 46 next month, is going into semi-retirement. When he leaves Kapalua, he won't return again until the Match Play Championship at the end of February.

He'll play the majors and World Golf Championships that are held in America, maybe a few other tournaments to get ready for the majors, and the John Deere Classic, which has become his hometown event ever since the Greater Milwaukee Open went away.

"I've proved to myself I could come back," said Stricker, once mired in a slump so severe he was voted PGA Tour comeback player ? two years in a row. "I had a great run the last six years. I think it's just the travel, the time away. When I get home, I'm not there. I'm focused on where I go next. When I do something, I'm in it. I've had enough of being totally focused on golf and my life. And I wanted to not have it be about me anymore."

Stricker is wired differently from most. He gets as much pleasure taking his kids to school in Wisconsin as winning golf tournaments. He would rather spend his fall in a deer stand with a bow than on the practice green with his putter.

He has been thinking about cutting back for the last few years, only the decision was never easy. Not when he was as high as No. 2 in the world, a regular on U.S. teams in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup.

Even with some winter stubble after nine holes of practice on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, he looked fresh and ready to go.

"I'm excited about the year because I finally made this decision to scale back," he said. "You know me. I've been this way since Day One. I've never played a lot. I enjoy my time at home, and I've tossed around this idea with my family the last couple of years. Finally making a decision to scale back has lifted a little bit of a burden from me. I'm just as excited to play this week as I've ever been."

Stricker won the Tournament of Champions a year ago for his 12th career win, although that turned out to be the highlight of his year. In one of the more peculiar trends, he became the third straight player to win the PGA Tour's opener and not win again the rest of the year.

He faces a 30-man field of PGA Tour winners that is missing some of the top stars, no longer unusual in this global landscape of golf with Europeans competing deep into November and some international players, such as Ernie Els, starting next week in South Africa. Among those absent from Kapalua are Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Luke Donald and Justin Rose, the top four players in the world ranking.

Stricker won't see many of them until he gets to Arizona for the Match Play Championship.

At least he's not walking away entirely. Over the last few weeks, he looked at the schedule and didn't feel he could miss the big events, particularly the majors. He hasn't set a number of events he wants to play, but it will be somewhere around 10.

What to do with all that free time? It won't be limited to a car pool or a deer stand. Stricker is forming a foundation with a new sponsor, American Family Insurance, with the goal of helping adolescents. The seed money comes from the charity donation he received for winning the Payne Stewart Award and playing on the Ryder Cup team.

His other sponsors ? Titleist, Avis and the New York Stock Exchange ? are behind his decision to cut back. Stricker has restructured his endorsement deals because he is playing less, and he plans to do more personal days with clients.

"I was prepared to lose all that, I really was," Stricker said. "For the most part, they're happy for me."

He still hasn't talked to PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem. Stricker is one of the most popular figures on tour because of the way he treats people. For now, this semi-retirement does not include The Players Championship or even the FedEx Cup playoffs, even if he has a reasonable shot at the $10 million bonus.

He would play the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup if he qualifies. With his limited schedule, he would be playing some good golf.

And yes, he'll still practice. His 14-year-old daughter, Bobbi Maria, is a natural athlete who is getting into golf. There were a few times last year she wanted to go to the golf course with his dad, but Stricker feared he wouldn't get any work done on his game.

"Now I can put in some time with her," Stricker said. "She's talked about hitting more balls in the winter. I can spend more time with her doing that, and playing with her in the summer if she wants to."

The strongest part of her game? Stricker smiled.

"She putts good," he said.

Part of Stricker wishes he had done this sooner, but the time didn't seem right. He would emerge from his fall break to play in the World Challenge hosted by Tiger Woods, and then Greg Norman's Shootout in Florida, and he found himself not wanting to leave.

"The coolest part is I'm playing as good as I ever have," Stricker said. "I've accomplished a lot of things. I proved to myself I can come back from where I was and I played great for an extended period of time. The major thing is missing, but that's not hugely important to me. I don't have to win a major. Obviously, I'd love to. But it's not going to define who I am. It's all good. I feel like I'm doing this for the right reason.

"I felt like it would be a bold move a couple of years ago, and I think it's a bold move now," he said. "Some people might think it's not a good idea. But I think it is for me."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-03-GLF-Tournament-of-Champions/id-d39c1c9008034e37a7e4c9b0d6eed3fc

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