Happy New Year!

Wish you a very happy 2010.

An Era of Computers

Every NHSH teacher has got a netbook recently and has to finish three computer courses by the end of this year. The three courses include Firefox, Audacity,and DIA.

A PPT for Unit 11: Glove Puppetry: A Folk Art Transformed

The following is a ppt I created this morning for Unit 11: "Glove Puppetry: A Folk Art Transformed."

glove puppetry.ppt

Glove Puppet Show

Christmas with My Former Students

On Christmas Day, five former students came back to school, Bubble from Class 313, Joel and Jeremy from Class 314 and Chong-hao and Gara from Class 310. I had two happy "chatting" sessions. In the bottom photos are the students with their former homeroom teachers. Gara from Class 310 stressed the importance of English, which is an important tool in college education. She even suggested that students listen to Studio Classroom together and have a discussion about the lesson in the morning study period every day. See how important English is?

Christmas with Class 209

214 Christmas Party

Yesterday my homeroom class 214 had a Christmas party in our classroom. They had a really good time. I enjoyed their laughter. The following slide shows what the party was like. Click on a photo at the pause and you can read the caption.

 

 

Why Do We Need to Know Schweitzer's Nationality? --洪蘭：為何要了解史懷哲是哪國人

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/OPI4/5330630.shtml

洪蘭：為何要了解史懷哲是哪國人

【聯合報╱洪蘭】 2009.12.26 02:23 am 

A Very Happy Christmas

Today I had a very happy Christmas with Class 214, Class 209, my former students, and my family.   Can you believe it?  I just got home.  Since it is very late now, I'll write about it tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Touched...

I was on the brink of tears this morning when my special student handed me a big key chain he made.

ei or ie?

Quite a few students have trouble spelling the word "receive" right. Based on my observation, I conclude that when it comes to "ei" or "ie" pronounced as /i/, the letter before the combination is a decisive factor. If the letter is "c" or "s," then the spelling should be "ei." Otherwise, it is "ie." To put it more simply, "i" has a straight line, so "ie" comes after a letter with a straight line. Here are some examples: receive, seize, yield, thief, brief, etc. Interesting, isn't it?

Take Fewer Courses, And Learn More

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=227507

台大鼓勵學生 少修課多學習

【聯合報╱記者陳智華／台北報導】2009/12/21

Ken's Visit to Class 214

 

This morning, Ken (王慶剛), a former student who is studying at Chengchi University majoring in Journalism and English, visited my Class 214. He talked to them in English for three quarters of the time. And the students paid their undivided attention. The following are some key points he mentioned:

What's Wrong with Taiwan's English Education

 

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=227110

台灣英語教育怎麼了？小時頂呱呱 高中差

【聯合晚報╱記者王彩鸝/台北報導】 2009/12/17

A Crisis Is an Opportunity

According to yesterday's United Evening News, Vice Premier Mr. Chu thought it a shame that Taiwan's students are poor at English.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=227248

學生英文差 朱立倫：奇恥大辱

【聯合晚報╱記者王彩鸝╱台北報導】2009/12/18

Where Have All Their Smiles Gone?--A Letter from a Ninth Grader

This is the letter by a ninth grader which was mentioned in the article in my previous entry posted today.  My heart ached as I read it.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=227112

教改總體檢／為何是蒼白的十五歲？一個國三生的告白

【聯合晚報╱教改體檢總論壇提供】2009/12/17

Complaints about the Educational Reform

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=227152

教改怨與願 蒼白的15歲學得好累

【聯合報╱記者陳智華／台北報導】2009/12/18

Comic Strips for Unit 10 "Fish Cheeks"

This morning in Class 214, 20 minutes before the end of the 2nd period of class, I had the students form pairs and draw a 8-panel comic strip for Unit 10. One in the pair is the cartoonist and the other the "director." The "director" has to give instructions in English, telling the cartoonist what to draw in each panel. The class did this happily and finished their work in 20 minutes.

Expanding Vocabulary Through Reading

The following article in today's UDN offers good tips not only on how to expand our vocabulary but also on how to select appropriate English reading material to read.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=226760

Discussion after Ali's Teaching

After Ali's teaching, we had a discussion in Teachers' Association Office.

The following are comments made by the attendees:

Prof. Chen (陳秋蘭教授), Mr. Wu (吳正東校長), Ms. Lee (李淑媛老師), Melody (陳美麗老師), Ali (葛淑瑄), and me:

Ali's Teaching

(Click on a photo when it pauses to see the caption.)

This afternoon, my student teacher Ali (葛淑瑄) gave a teaching demonstration with Class 209. Her NTNU advisor Ms. Chen (陳秋蘭教授) and several teachers of NHSH observed her class.

Ali did a good job. Her fluent English, organized teaching, and encouraging smile made the class enjoyable.

TIME December 21, 2009

I got the current issue of TIME magazine today. Just take a look at the table of contests, and you might be attracted by titles such as The Year in Pictures 2009, The Best of 2009, The Ignoble but Undeniable Truth about the Chinese Practice of Feng Shui, and City Guide: Sydney. Well, go check out for yourself.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/asia/0,9263,501091221,00.html

A Beautiful Life --舒國治：美好的生活

I just ran into an interesting article on the UDN website, in which Mr. Su defines what a beautiful life is. I'd like to highlight the points I strongly agree with.

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/OPI4/5293628.shtml

舒國治：美好的生活

【聯合報╱舒國治】 2009.12.07 03:18 am

A Way to Teach Songs

Yesterday, to wrap up Unit 9 "A Memorable Event," I taught Class 209 a very inspiring song "Smile," which was written by Charlie Chaplin. This is a good song to teach the students rhyming.

Admirable Young People

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=226137

高中生編課程 關懷原鄉學童

【聯合報╱記者邱瓊玉／台北報導】2009/12/11

Turning the Story into a Comic Strip

Two days ago, my student teacher Ali, after finishing the reading part of Unit 9 "A Memorable Event," gave Class 209 an interesting assignment--drawing Chaplin's memorable event and turning it into an 8-panel comic strip. At that time, some students complained that they were bad at drawing. However, this morning, when I collected the comic strips, I was quite impressed with their drawing skills.

A Thing Hard Earned Is Treasured Much More

The following is a news report in yesterday's UDN in response to a recent hot issue on college students eating chicken legs in class.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=225475

錢致榕：補習18年上台大 怎會珍惜

【聯合報╱記者湯雅雯／台北報導】2009/12/08

A "Silent" Game

This afternoon, in Class 214, around 5 minutes before the class was dismissed, I played a game to relax the students, who had sat in class for around 90 minutes.

Acting Out

Today when teaching Class 214 the 7th paragraph of Unit 9 "A Memorable Event," I asked the students to do silent reading first and tell me the main idea. The paragraph is about Charlie Chaplin's performance after he was led to the stage by the stage manager. Then, instead of asking the class some detailed questions, I had them do group discussion and act the paragraph out silently.

After we go through the whole reading of this lesson, I will have the students act the whole memorable event out. This time, I'd like a "talkie."

What Might Be Included in the Oral Discussion about Steve Jobs's Speech "You've Got to Find What You Love"?

Dear 209 and 214,

For the one-on-one oral discussion with me about Steve Jobs's speech "You've Got to Find What You Love," which you have to do by the end of this semester, the following are some potential topics:

1. Which part of the speech impressed you most?

Do You Know What You Want to Do? 洪蘭：大學生 你知道自己要做什麼嗎

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/OPI4/5290602.shtml

洪蘭：大學生 你知道自己要做什麼嗎

【聯合報╱洪蘭】 2009.12.05 02:46 am

Honesty & Facing the Music

We always say, "Practice what you preach." However, students don't stay around us teachers so that they can see and learn from what we do. So today in class meeting I decided to tell my homeroom class two of my stories to demostrate the ideas "honesty" and "face the music."

Today, I Celebrate My Dedication to Blogging

This morning, I gave each of the students in my two classes a piece of chocolate to celebrate my 2nd blogging anniversary. After I told them that I would like to celebrate my perseverance with them, both the classes applauded. They are so lovely!

The 2nd Anniversary

Today is the 2nd anniversary of my blogging. On this day two years ago, I attended a workshop on blogging, and since then I've been keeping my blog every day for two years, without any intermission. I celebrated my persistence on the 1st anniversary last year by giving Classes 310, 313, and 314 a piece of chocolate. Tomorrow I'm going to celebrate the 2nd anniversary with Classes 214 and 209. 731 days nonstop!

A Pronunciation Rule--Where to Put the Stress

Every Tuesday, the UDN runs a column on English words, which is written by Mr. Chen (陳超明教授), a professor of National Chengchi University. Today besides seven words to learn for the coming week, he deals with the stress of words. Please click on the following link to check it out.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=381&f_SUB_ID=4274&f_ART_ID=224470

Regulations Are Still Needed

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=224425

台大醫自省 頒上課規則

【聯合晚報╱記者王彩鸝、嚴文廷╱台北報導】2009/12/01

Discipline? Discipline!

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/OPI4/5278446.shtml

王健壯：盆景與野樹野草

【聯合報╱王健壯】 2009.11.29 03:33 am

Don't Waste Life in Front of the Computer, Said Lian, Jia-en (連加恩)

In today's UDN, I read a news report on Lian, Jia-en's speech at Tsing-hua University. Mr. Lian joined substitute military service to serve in Africa for 20 months after he graduated from medical school eight years ago. He taught the children there to collect garbage in exchange for old clothes and raised funds to set up an orphanage.

Overcome Some Problems with Vocabulary

Some students have trouble recalling an English word and its spelling. When they come to me and ask for my advice, I often tell them to make sentences orally. If they can make a sentence like

Live with a Purpose

Two boy students told me today that they don't have motivation for studying. Is it because they're fed up with studying or because they've never taken interest in studying?

Teachers' Preparation Work

In the afternoon, while I was watching the last part of Charlie Chaplin's movie Modern Times, Melody (陳美麗老師) called to borrow the CD of The Phantom of the Opera, which she needs for Lesson Nine in Book I. She asked me which version of the song "The Phantom of the Opera" is on my CD. According to her search on YouTube, there are two versions. She had to make sure so that she could get the right lyrics for the students. As a teacher, one often has work on his/her mind even when he/she is not working.

Finding Role Models in Books: 洪蘭：書讀得少 心中沒典範

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=223366

洪蘭：書讀得少 心中沒典範

【聯合報╱記者陳智華／高雄報導】2009/11/25

Getting Organized

Next lesson "A Memorable Event" is about Charlie Chaplin. Yesterday Mr. Chang (張文和老師) asked me to lend him the DVD "Modern Times" next Monday. I hardly remembered I had that DVD. However, last night I found it in a pile of DVDs in the living room. I remember five years ago when I taught that lesson, I used "City Lights." But where is the DVD now? There is no trace of it.

Studying in the U.S. Universities

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=223004

經驗談／美大教學活 鼓勵「問題」學生

【聯合報╱記者陳智華／台北報導】2009/11/23

From Within

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=222789

賞罰訓練品德…孩子難有品

【聯合報╱記者曾懿晴／台北報導】2009/11/2

Reading Aloud

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/OPI4/5263388.shtml

廖玉蕙：朗聲尋找最準確的字句

【聯合報╱廖玉蕙】   2009.11.21 03:49 am

As an Instructor of a Speech Contestant

Yesterday evening, on my way out of school, I saw two posters congratulating Shihjen's good performance in the speech contest and thanking me for helping her prepare for it. Here, with my fingers running on the keyboard, I'd like to recall what I did as an instructor of a speech contestant.

5 Things the U.S. Can Learn from China--a TIME Article

The cover story of the latest issue of TIME is "5 Things the U.S. Can Learn from China."  Before clicking on the link, guess what they are.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1938671,00.html

Congratulations, Shihjen!

What If the Students Don't Respond to Questions?

When no students answer my question, I play a game which decides who has to answer the qeustion, and at the same time gets the students to exercise. The game is called "The Big Cross" (大十字). Here is how it goes:

Learning to Speak English

While I was surfing the Net this evening, I bumped into this article.  It's about problems in speaking English and the solutions.

http://www.cavesbooks.com.tw/webpage/topic/phonepass/9205_16/index.htm

如何會講英文By 李家同

Set Them Free from Math

The following is a commentary on NTU's decision not to count math in the admission of students to its  Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures.

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/X1/5251737.shtml

我的文史夢 籠罩數學陰影

 

聯合報╱林宛萱／大學生（高雄市）】2009.11.15 03:49 am

Word Cards

Recall the meaning of the word before you continue.

Congratulatiolns, 214!

This afternoon, the result of the campus decoration competition came out. Class 214 got the first prize. They deserve it. The time they spent and the efforts they put into the work. I'm really happy that they decided to do it. Though it was taken down this afternoon, the beauty stays in every viewer's heart and every photo taken with it.

Click on the links, and you know what I mean.

http://june.ettachou.com/2009/11/06/214-campus-decoration/#more-1974

http://june.ettachou.com/2009/11/04/decorating-the-campus/#more-1961

22nd School Founding Anniversary--Part V: the Unsung Heroes

 

 

Their Dream? Your Dream?

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/OPI4/5244408.shtml

洪蘭：別叫孩子圓你的夢

聯合報╱洪蘭】 2009.11.11 04:23 am

22n School Founding Anniversary--Part 4: Happy Reunion

 

 

22nd School Founding Anniversary--Part III: Garden Party

At the garden party, my Class 214 sold sausage, noodles, and soft drinks. Class 209 sold food and offered a water-ballooning game. They were tired, but had a good time, I believe.

 

22nd School Founding Anniversary--Part II: Relay Race

22nd School Founding Anniversary--Part I: the Ceremony

Today is NHSH's 22nd anniversary. A ceremony was held in the activity center. The faculty who had served at NHSH for 15 or more years were awarded with a gift. Then some VIPs delievered a short address. After that came 4 performances by school clubs. Here are some photos taken at the ceremony.  With a click on a photo, you can enlarge it.

214 Campus Decoration

A Word Guessing Game

One activity my student teacher Ali (葛淑瑄) did in class was a word guessing game. Having finished Unit 7 this morning, she had the class play this game. The students were divided into groups of 5 to 6 to have a group discussion about how to say a word in another way or its association.

Decorating the Campus

Today I stayed in school with some of my Class 214 students until around 8pm. They were working on the campus decoration for the school founding anniversary on Saturday. The topic is a mermaid swimming a race. The idea of bringing the sea creature to land is simply lovely.

Breaking with Convention

In today's class, when coming across the phrase "break with convention" in Lesson 7, I asked Class 209, "How can an English teacher break with convention when teaching English?" The students' answers were by using movies, songs, and games in class. The last two are easy for me. However, not a moviegoer, I seldom bring movies into the classroom. Maybe I should watch more movies.

Bringing Movies into Class

Today my student teacher Ali (葛淑瑄) taught 214 for the second time. Speaking fluent English and appearing calm, she looked quite experienced.

Things Learned from UDN High School English Writing Class

English writing gives many high school students a headache. UDN offered an English writing course, and yesterday was the last day of the class. In the following UDN news report, some students talked about what they learned from the course.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=219612

 高中英文作文 結業收穫多

【聯合報╱記者陳智華／台北報導】2009/11/01

Is That Heaven?

Today I went to George's college class reunion with him. An old classmate of his, who came back to Taiwan from the U.S. on business for six days, told me about his daughter's junior high school life in the USA.

An Article on Writing: 說小故事與講大道理

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=13&f_SUB_ID=1259&f_ART_ID=219332

名人堂／廖玉蕙：說小故事與講大道理

【聯合報╱廖玉蕙】2009/10/30

Whose Life?

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/X1/5218431.shtml

望子成龍，子不成龍

【聯合報╱李家同／暨南、清華、靜宜大學榮譽教授（新竹市）】

2009.10.28 02:48 am

An Acitivity for Teaching Vocbulary

This morning in Class 209, we came to the vocabulary of Lesson 6. An idea came up before I stepped into the classroom. Why not let the students make up a story using the vocabulary words? They could learn to use the words by using them.

Is Cram School a Cure-all?

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=218835

名人堂／什麼都靠補習的畸形教育觀念

【聯合報╱楊照】 2009/10/27

There Is No Such Thing as Potential Development

http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NATS4/5214288.shtml

 洪蘭：潛能開發 沒這回事

聯合報╱記者薛荷玉／台北報導】

2009.10.26 06:34 am

A Good Way to Practice Speaking English

Failing to find online the UDN article I read yesterday "賴世雄 開創兩岸英語王國," an excerpt from a book to be published on Oct. 27, 幸福力 (The Power of Happiness), I would like to talk about one thing mentioned in the article: a way Mr. Lai practiced speaking when he was young.

When You Are Willing, There Are Thousands of Ways

Seeing an article entitled "賴世雄 開創兩岸英語王國" in today's UDN, I searched for it online, only to find a short and different version.

http://www.bookzone.com.tw/event/new025/book6.asp

Luckily, I came across another article about Mr. Lai on jimmy's blog:

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!zIcVgf2GHxn6vu2VhC6PN2LG5W0-/article?mid=185&prev=1297&l=f&fid=13

 

賴世雄頂尖英文 豬圈裡練出來的?

Cocoon Cutters

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/X1/5209815.shtml

大人管過頭 變成剪蛹的人

【聯合報╱林聆／高職輔導主任（苗縣竹南)】

2009.10.23 03:38 am

An Interview with Shih-jen

This noon, Shih-jen (張世仁), a student in Class 209, was given an interview to decide whether she was eligible to waive the 2nd-year English course in high school. Chris (林詠梅老師), Wei-yun (楊葦芸老師), and I were the interviewers.

Our quetsions were:

View Yourself as a Diamond

The following is an article found in today's Liberal Times. It is about how we should look upon ourselves. Though its intended readers are salespeople, everyone can learn something precious from it.

http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2009/new/oct/21/today-work1.htm

用鑽石的眼光看自己

文／張秀滿 圖／張芸茵

Teaching Demonstration

This afternoon, I have a group of special visitors. They are 16 students from NTNU led by Prof. Feng (馮和平教授), coming to observing my teaching.

Listen to Speeches and Set a Lifelong Goal--彭宗平 朱樹勳 滿腔熱血當業師

A long and good article I found in today's UDN.

http://www.yzu.edu.tw/index.php/component/option,com_alphacontent/section,2/task,view/id,2558/Itemid,236/

I especially love two parts in it.

The 5th National English Vocabulary Contest

According to the following news report, in the 5th National English Vocabulary Contest held yesterday, the high school stuents who won the top three prizes performed as well as the winners in the college group . 

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=217580

英文單字賽 高中生達大學級

 

【聯合報╱記者張弘昌／台中市報導】2009/10/18

Videos of the Boston Red Sox Winning the 2004 World Series Championship

This evening, I spent two hours on YouTube and picked some watchable videos of the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series Championship in 2004, which broke the Curse of the Great Bambino. The moment of the final out in Game 4 was so thrilling that I, though not a baseball fan, was moved to tears.

 The following is the list of the videos, with their URL, play time, title, number of viewers, rating, and description provided by the producer.

Before you watch any of the videos, remember to thank YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aem_VmGTBa8&NR=1    1:15

The Final Out, Game 4 of the 2004 World Series    58,971    5

Recording history... The final out of the 2004 World Series!

A Grammatically Correct Sentence Is not Necessarily a Right Sentence

Today I got a text message from a former student who graduated this summer, asking me if the sentence "I only like to stay with you" is grammatically correct.

A Warm-up Activity for Lesson 5 "Every Day Is a New Opportunity"

 



In today's class, to build or activate Class 209 students' schema for the baseball part in the reading of Lesson 5 "Every Day Is a New Opportunity," I invited Sao-chen (王少宸) to give a talk on the MLB. Since the purpose was not to teach English but to help the students to have a clearer idea about the MLB, I allowed Sao-chen to talk in Chinese. He did a marvelous job, introducing the MLB, the Division Series, Wild Card, the ALCS, NLCS, and the World Series. He even told two interesting stories about Babe Ruth. Everyone in the class learned a lot from him.

Learn to Live Before Learning to Write

This is an article in Monday's UDN. It's not only about how to improve writing but also how to really live.

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/OPI4/5188591.shtml

 

廖玉蕙：看見生活裡的繁花盛景

 

【聯合報╱廖玉蕙】2009.10.12 04:04 am

What Is "Call to Prayer"?

I have been wondering what "call to prayer" is since I first came across this expression when listening to Studio Classroom on October 1. Entitled "Magical Marrakesh," that article mentioned that the haunting call to prayer from Koutoubia Mosque can be heard five times a day. While listening, I paid undivided attention, hoping that I would hear the teachers' explanation of this phrase. However, the teachers didn't clarify the term.

Get More Sleep

The following report on adolescents getting more sleep can be found in yesterday's UDN:

http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/5187514.shtml

 

科普達人卡爾：孩子少睡23分 成績A掉C

 

【聯合報╱記者李承宇／台北報導】

2009.10.11 02:29 pm

A Treasure Basin for Society 高清愿 要當社會聚寶盆

In todays' UDN, there is a mini biography of the president of Uni-President Enterprises Corporation, Kao, Ching-yuan (高清愿). Reading his life story, I see a giant. http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/5187570.shtml 

大河人生／高清愿 要當社會聚寶盆

聯合報╱記者 彭慧明、鄭朝陽、周宗禎2009.10.11 03:23 am

Intrinsic or Extrinsic Motivation? --"人生，沒有加退選"

An article in today's UDN. Reading it, I recalled part of Steve Jobs' Stanford address "You've Got to Find What You Love" and part of Oprah Winfrey's Stanford speech.

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/OPI4/5186077.shtml

焦元溥：人生，沒有加退選

【聯合報╱焦元溥】 2009.10.10 03:34 am

Photos Taken with My Former Students Since Sep. 1, 2009

Finally, I've got some time to upload onto my blog some photos taken with my former students at their visits since the beginning of the new semeter. After graduating from NHSH, they are studying in different fields: journalism, pharmacy, entomology, German, English, law, politics, history, communication arts, international trades and finance, etc.

Learning Engish by Listening to Broadcast

How does listening to broadcast facilitate English learning? The following are  some comments from two university professors.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=381&f_SUB_ID=2705&f_ART_ID=216033

廣播學英語 發音更道地

【聯合報╱記者湯雅雯／台北報導】2009/10/08

Welcome! OH!Zone

Today's UDN runs a news report which must have drawn the attention of English learners.   With OH!Zone, English learners have another avenue to sharpening their English skills.   This is an online broadcast which provides listeners with first hand information about trends, campus life, music, etc. 

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=216027

OH!Zone開播 全英語、沒廣告、免費學

【聯合報╱記者湯雅雯／台北報導】2009/10/08

A List of English Books a Second-year High School Student Has Read

To make Shih-jen (張世仁) eligible to waive the 2nd-year English course, this morning I asked her to list the English books she has read so far. The following is the list she gave me:

1. Tuesdays with Morrie (最後十四堂星期二的課)

2. For One More Day (再給我一天)
3. The Five People You Meet in Heaven (在天堂遇見的五個人)

 (The above three were written by Mitch Albom.)

Eat the Right Foods, And You Stay Happy

In today's UDN, there is an article about foods which bring us happiness. Whoever is always in a bad mood might find answers in their diet.

 http://udn.com/NEWS/HEALTH/HEA2/5177410.shtml

吃對食物 快樂來找你

聯合報╱張靜芬／台東基督教醫院營養師】2009.10.06 02:57 am

Reading Is an Experience of Exploration

Yu-an (陳妤安), a student in Class 214 wrote in her reading log for The Real Diana:

有些單字雖然看不懂，但看到後面會突然發覺「哦！原來前面是在講......」不太會有那種不敢看英文的感覺。

My comments: Great! That is the beauty of reading. Keep exploring more.

A Good English Learning Web Site-- 英文資訊交流網

This is a useful English learning Web site. It provides information about English learning, English tests, English-related news, new books, etc. Online translation function is also available.

英文資訊交流網

http://blog.cybertranslator.idv.tw/

New TOEFL--a Big Challenge

A former student who graduated from NHSH around 8 years ago and is planning to study in the U.S. for his PhD degree came to visit me this afternoon. He asked me to clarify some doubts on the admission pages of University of Penn, a prestigious school in the States.

Then he described to me how difficult TOEFL-ibt is. For example, in the speaking part, one item goes like this:

Blogs Can Be Teachers' Treasure Trove

A colleague called me this evening and asked if I still had the supplementary material about Martin Luther King. She remembered I shared an informative handout with her about two years ago. I told her I would check for her over the weekend.

I did use the supplementary material when I taught "I Have a Dream" last year; however, during the summer vacation, I cleaned up my study and reorganized everything in here. So now I have to search and "dig" the material out.

Problems in Taiwan's English Education

I ran across the following article in the Apple Daily this evening. It's about some problems in Taiwan's English education. Instead of finding the article at the Apple Daily Web site, I found it at another Web site.

http://www.twbbs.net.tw/3328517.html

人間異語：台灣英文越補越大洞 2009年10月02日蘋果日報

 鍾小姐 大學英文口譯講師

Collocation Search

Today in Class 214, we did group discussion again. This time, I had the students find the collocations in the example sentences of the vocabulary in Lesson 4, for example, "make a close examination of," "hold on tight to," "be diagosed with," etc.

Students Giving Oral Reports

This semester we use Success with Reading as outside reading material. Instead of giving the students tests to check if they read, I have them do an oral report. Students take turns as scheduled talking about an article assigned.

A Wonderful Blog of a New Friend I Met Online

A new friend from across the Taiwan Strait left a message on my WordPress blog yesterday. Out of curiosity, I clicked on her name and was amazed at what I saw.

Happy Teacher's Day!

Teacher's Day. What was my Teacher's Day like?

7:40 Attended the morning assembly with students.

Memorizing the Editorial in the Newspaper: A Way to Learn English

This afternoon on the radio I heard Hsu, Wei (徐薇), a famous cram school English teacher, say that when she was studying at TFG (北一女), her English teacher had them memorize the editorial in the China Post every day. 

I See You. I Am Here. "我看見你，我在這裡"

This is an article about the importance of parents' participation in their children's life.  It is written by Hung, lan (洪蘭)

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/OPI4/5161783.shtml 

洪蘭：我看見你，我在這裡

 

聯合報╱洪蘭】2009.09.27 04:12 am

Class on Saturday with 209

Today is Saturday, but I was at school teaching 209 for two hours.

Given that they had to stay at school on Saturday from 8am to 5pm, I tried to make the class fun. Group discussion was my solution. This was the first time they did group discussion. The procedure was just like what I had done on Thursday in Class 214.

Looking Backwards, Do You Smile at What You've Done?

When Steve Jobs took the calligraphy course, he didn't expect it would ever contribute anything to his career.  That's why he said, 

"... you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. " --Steve Jobs "You've Got to Find What You Love"

Group Discussion

To give students more chance to speak English and to enhance the interaction between students, today I had Class 214 do group discussion in class. Before class, I drew the grouping chart on the blackboard, telling the students to put their desks into small clusters.

To my amazement, the students had already sat in groups of 5 to 7 when I stepped into the classroom.

Empathy

A student wrote in her weekly journal about how hard it was to collect reply slips in her club.  So she decided to hand in any reply slips on time from now on.   This is so-called empathy.  I'm glad that she leanred a valuable lesson from the experience.

What Have We Learned?

When we make a mistake, what really matters is whether we've learned something from it. Of course, if the mistake hurts someone, the first thing we have to do is apologize.

Stunning Mysteries plus Class Activities for Sanmin 303

Today in class we came to two of the world's mysteries: crop circles and Stonehenge.

Before the class, I came across two amazing photos of crop cirlcles in the morning. One was taken in English, and the other in Switzerland. Click and you'll be stunned by these geometric shapes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crop_circles_Swirl.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CropCircleW.jpg

A Warm-up Activity: Sanmin 303

Today I started Lesson Two in Class 214. 

To lead the students in, I wrote on the blackboard the title: Is the Truth Out There?  With it, I asked them, "If something is out there, is it near or far from us?"    For the sake of reinforcement, I even sang the first line of the song "Somewhere Out There."   Then  I asked them what "the  truth" meant.  They gave me the Chinese translation. 

What's College Education for? 成大副校長：「大學要培養有貢獻的人」

What is college education for?  The following article found in today's UDN provides a good answer.

http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT4/5144929.shtml

成大副校長：「大學要培養有貢獻的人」

聯合報╱記者陳智華／台北報導】  2009.09.20 05:31 am

Poor English?

A similar article to the following one can be found in today's UDN, in which Mr. Lee (李家同教授), whom I respect a lot, mentioned the gloomy situation of the English education in Taiwan.   However, I know many students in Taiwan have a good command of Engish. 

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=213211

李資政開講／國立高中生 寫出菜英文…

 

聯合晚報╱記者嚴文廷╱台北報導】2009/09/18

You Never Know

Today, it was Hung-yu's (弘宇) turn to host the class meeting. However, since he was on sick leave today, Yi-hung (逸弘) took it over. At first, I thought the whole class would remain silent because Yi-hung, not smiling much, looked serious.

A Time of Silence

214 students are in their Reading and Writing class. Everyone concentrates on their reading. I really enjoyed the moment of serenity, feeling the power of reading together.

An Acitivity for Teaching Vocabulary

The day before yesterday, I had the students play with the new words of Lesson 2. The students form groups of 4~6. Each group had to created a skit using three words assigned to them, for example, regard, perfect, and digusted/disgusting/disgust. They had only 5 minutes to come up with their skit. Then I collected the papers, read them, corrected some mistakes, and gave the scripts back to the students yesterday.

內湖高中209 9/17~9/21停課英文科作業 (English Assignment for Class 209)

 內湖高中209 9/17~9/21停課英文科作業 20090916

The World's 10 Most Unusual Foods

Coincidentally, I heard the TV news mentioning the pig's blood cake as the world's most unusual food.  Catching a glimpse of the source shown on the screen, I got online and found the article "The World's 10 Most Unusual Foods."  Eureka!   We have just finished talking about foods in class.     This article can be given to students as supplementary reading material.

Why not guess what foods are on the list before clicking on the URL or reading on?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32799609/ns/travel-destinations/

How She Got 118 Out of 120 on New TOEFL

A Taiwanese student, Li-hsuen Chen, got a 118 on TOEFL.   The full score is 120.   She suggests reading extensively is the key to scoring high on the test.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=212455

新托福118高分 英文小說從小K

 

【聯合報╱記者湯雅雯／台北報導】2009/09/14

Taiwan's Performance on Last Year's TOEFL

There is a news report in yesterday's UDN. It is about the performance of students in Taiwan on last year's TOEFL.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=381&f_SUB_ID=2705&f_ART_ID=212456

新托福聽說難 我學子亞洲排18

 

【聯合報╱記者張錦弘／台北報導】2009/09/14

214 Classroom Decoration

This is my homeroom Class 214's classroom decoration. Eye-catching and up-lifting! The students finished it last Friday. The whole class would like to say "Thanks" to Yu-chi (钰淇), She-yu (思妤), Hsiao-chieh (曉潔), Hsin-yu (昕妤), Su-yi (書懿), and Li-hsuen (立軒). Thanks for the time and effort you put in beautifying our classroom.

The Other New Class--209

This is my other new class: Class 209. They are science majors: 22 boys and 15 girls. Several of them participate very actively in class. It doesn't happen often during the first two weeks of a new semester. I love the interaction. Good!

A Joke about English Conversation

This is a joke my sister-in-law emailed me this afternoon. It's really funny, ha-ha...(echoing).

Plurk

I've been plurking for about three weeks. I had my first encounter with Plurk because of Annie (詹麗馨老師). Plurk is like a bulletin board. I can announce some news. Besides, I can tell my Plurk friends what I'm doing or I'm thinking in a few words, and all of them read them. Also, I can ask questions and get responses from different people. It's like MSN, but unlike MSN, I don't need to stay before the computer all the time exchanging instant messages. I've never used MSN, in fact. Plurk is like blog too, but the messages on Plurk are much shorter.

My former 313 students told me that there are more functions, for example, you can request a song! Amazing!

Independent Study?

When Class 209 She-ren (張世仁) told me yesterday that she had finished reading My Sister's Keeper, I thought to myself, "Does she need to sit in the classroom?" I remember four years ago Ken (王慶剛) and Carol (林琪亞), two students in my Advanced English Class when they were in their first year, didn't attend the regular class in their second year; instead, they did independent study in the library, reading English novels such as Tuesdays with Morrie, The Catcher in the Rye, etc. and writing book reports. I believe they learned more on their own than if they had sat in the classroom.

They Are Reading Too!

This morning when I opened the UDN and found the following article, I smiled broadly. It struck the chord with me.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=211942

寧靜閱讀 讓學童中閱讀的毒

 

【聯合報╱記者薛荷玉／台北報導】 2009/09/10

A Way to Get Students to Speak English

This morning, I told Class 209 that I would teach them a song after we finished Lesson One today, if the points the whole class got were over 50.  Though still, they didn't reach 50 finally since I didn't ask as many questions as I did the previous days, they tried their best.  Tomorrow, they can sing the song, I believe, because I'm going to pose many questions.  I love to hear students speak English in and out of class!

214 Feedback to Reading and Writing Activity

Dear 214, Last Friday, we did an experiment. You did free reading for 20 mintues in class. Then you were given seven minutes to finish a reading log, which was followed by five minutes of sharing what you had read by reading from your log. After the activity, you were invited to write down how you felt about the activity. Here I'd like you to copy your feedback onto my blog for future reference. Thanks!

English Career--a Blog Worth Reading

Here is a blog related to English learning. Do you know what English you need at work? Visit it and expand your horizons. I'd like to thank Patrick (see http://www.tiec.tp.edu.tw/lifetype/post/1130/29788#40080) for introducing this informative blog.

http://blog.roodo.com/englishcareer/archives/4490421.html

If I Were a Freshman Again--10: 如果再當一次新鮮人／青峰：選擇所愛 老二哲學終不悔

The 10th UDN article on "If I Were a Freshman Again":

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=211388

如果再當一次新鮮人／青峰：選擇所愛 老二哲學終不悔

聯合報／吳青峰／口述；記者江芷稜／記錄】 2009/09/07

If I Were a Freshman Again--9 再當新鮮人／邰智源：累積智慧 少談戀愛

The 9th article on "If I Were a Freshman Again":

http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/5119745.shtml

 再當新鮮人／邰智源：累積智慧 少談戀愛

 聯合報╱邰智源／口述、記者趙大智／記錄】 2009.09.06 02:58 am

How Oprah Got America Reading Again

 

http://udn.com/NEWS/READING/X5/5118176.shtml

歐普拉如何改變了美國人的閱讀方式

【聯合報╱葉景雯】 

2009.09.05 03:17 am

Reading and Writing Class: An Experiment

Today in Reading & Writing class I did an experiment, inspired by Ms. Wang's speech in May (http://www.tiec.tp.edu.tw/lifetype/post/1130/30746).

I had the 214 students do free reading for 20 minutes. I called it "reading for pleasure," though the students were asked to write a brief reading log right after their reading. Then I invited three students to share what they had read.

A Cute Mistake

Today, I asked the students in Class 210 what English expressions they had learned in paragraph 5 in Lesson 1, an activity I often do after students finish pair reading.  A male student said, “Wanna see my skirts?” I was puzzled and so were the other students.  Immediately I knew where the problem was.  Then looking puzzled, I drew a skirt in the air and repeated his sentence, hoping that he could correct the mistake himself.  Realizing what caused the confusion, he gave the correct sentence right away.  "Wanna see my scars?" he said.  At this point, the whole class burst into laughter.

A cute pronunciation mistake, isn't it?

A Flash of Idea

This morning when I was teaching Class 209, near the end of class, seeing the students so attentive throughout the class, I decided to let them have fun.  Having just briefly reviewed the pattern "with + O + OC," I said to them, "Please stand up.   Stand with your right hand on your neighbor's shoulder."  They followed the instructions.  Then I added, "Now give your neighbor a massage (on the shoulder)."  Haha!  I saw little kids in them.  Sometimes I'm quite naughty.

If I Were a Freshman Again--8

The 8th article on "If I Were a Freshman Again":

http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/5108447.shtml

 

再當新鮮人／盧廣仲：黑暗期 看見友情萬歲

 

【聯合報╱盧廣仲／口述、記者江芷稜／整理】

Fan-yu Transferring to NTU

Three former students came to visit me.  One of them FFan-yu (郭凡瑜) is from the former Class 316, who graduated last year.     She told me she has succeeded in transferring from Taipei University to NTU, majoring in Economics.  I am very happy for her. 

A New Class--Class 214

 



On the first day of the new semester. I met my homeroom class--Class 214.   My first impression of them was  good.  When I went to the class at 7:35, almost everyone was in the classroom, very quiet, as if there were already a teacher standing inside watching them.   "What a well-behaved class!" I told myself.  Later when some students were distributing the new books, I noticed a few students unfolding the boxes without instruction from me.   They had the spirit of service.  I really admired such kind of people.  Good!

Learning Tips for High School Students

I came across this treasure yesterday.  It is a web page at Lishan High School's web site (麗山高中).  On the page are some learning tips for high school students.  Though its target readers are freshmen, the tips are useful for both second- and third-year students. 

http://www2.lssh.tp.edu.tw/~guid/2005/freshman/learningtip.html

學習錦囊

If I Were a Freshman Again--7

The seventh article in the UDN on "If I Were a Freshman Again."

http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/5106942.shtml

再當新鮮人／孫維新：像逛超市 去各學院旁聽

聯合報╱孫維新／口述、記者楊正敏／整理

The Reader, plus Language Learning

I finished The Reader this morning. Touched by how Hanna, illiterate before going to prison, finally learned to read and write in prison, I was amazed at her strong will. Of course, the protagonist Mike's keeping sending Hanna tapes of his reading contributed too.

創造教學的「聲」命力--美聲專家 周震宇先生 的演講 我的筆記

Topic: 創造教學的「聲」命力

Speaker: 周震宇先生

 Time: 8:30~10:30am, Aug. 28, 2009

Place: 內湖高中活動中心三樓會議廳

 My notes:

Jack Chuang Reciting "The Road Not Taken"

Yesterday afternoon, I shot a video of my 310 student Jack Chuang (莊子賢) reciting Robert Frost's famous poem "The Road Not Taken," which was once recognized as the most popular poem in the States. Though the video runs only around one minute, Jack and I spent three hours making it. Since I don't know how to edit a video, Jack had to recite the whole poem from his memory without any mistakes before I could call it a day. Now I learned how difficult it is to produce a film! I will be more appreciative when watching a movie.

Now, click on the URL, sit back, and enjoy listening to/watching Jack reciting the poem, contemplating on the universal experience of decision-making.

The Road Not Taken--Recited by Jack Chuang

Thank you, Jack.  You did a wonderful job!

About the N1H1 Flu

My friend Annie (麗馨) found this web page and posted it on her plurk. After reading the article, I got a clear idea about the N1H1 flu. It's in simple English. An informative article!

http://www2.aia.pref.aichi.jp/sodan/e/newinfuluenza2e.html

Thanks, Annie, for sharing this information.

Food for Thought--讓我為自己讀書

The following is an article in the UDN I read last week. It reflects junior high school life in Taiwan, except that now corporal punishment is prohibited.

I like the title: Let Me Study for Myself. I remember well that at the beginning of a book on English teaching which I read several years ago, the author insisted that teachers should remind their students in the very first class that the students should take learning as their own responsibility. Indeed, it is!

http://udn.com/NEWS/READING/X4/5087999.shtml

記憶儲存盒／讓我為自己讀書

【聯合報╱陳凱倫】

314 Class Reunion

On Friday noon, August 14, my former 314, who graduated last year, had a class reunion at 嗆燒, organized by the then class leader Helen (歐馥嘉). 17 people were present, including me.

If I Were a Freshman Again--6

The sixth articles on "If I Were a Freshman Again":

http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/5095097.shtml

再當新鮮人／多學課外知識 培養國際觀

【聯合報╱花旗（台灣）銀行董事長／利明獻】

If I Were a Freshman Again--5

One more article on "If I Were a Freshman Again":

http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT5/5093751.shtml

再當新鮮人／劉維公：樂當書呆子 扎學術根基

聯合報╱劉維公／口述、記者何定照／整理】

New Suzhou Museum

Last Wednesday, Diego (邱元亨) came to share with me some photos he took during his trip to Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou.  Beautiful geometry!  The following are four photos of the new Suzhou Museum.  The New Suzhou Museum, completed in 2006,  is the last work of I. M. Pei (貝聿銘). 

Love Sent from a Tough Place: 酋長的男子漢眼淚-情義無價

Read these and you'll cry for the chief's beautiful heart.

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/okida/6764168

http://udn.com/NEWS/NATIONAL/NAT2/5090507.shtml

I finished reading them with teary eyes.

「數目不多  情義無價」

If I Were a Freshman Again-4 如果再做新鮮人/學會自己做決定、負責

This is one of the articles in the "If I Were a Freshman again" series. It was posted in the July 17 UDN. However, I couldn't find the article in the UDN web site; instead, I found it on the "Pray for All" blog. Failing to copy it from the blog, I can only provide the URL.

http://lousmanda.pixnet.net/blog/post/25695442

如果再做新鮮人/學會自己做決定、負責

If I Were a Freshman Again-3

If I were a freshman again...

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=208375

A Good Website: 打開聯合報 看見紐約時報

While cleaning out the old newspapers, I found some good articles in the New York Times, supplementary of the Tuesday UDN. Eager to keep those articles for future reference, I surfed the Net, hoping that I could find them online so that I could download them. Then I came across this web site. There is traslation of some NYT articles. Great!

http://city.udn.com/593

It Takes So Much Time!

I'm still cleaning my study.  For the past few days, I spent much more time doing the cleaning than reading books.  Though feeling a little empty in my mind, I believe it is worth it.  In a tidier room, I'll work more efficiently.

Moving Was Easier This Summer