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.