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.