2013年3月31日 星期日

"Richard Branson on the Art of Public Speaking"--an Article from Entrepreneur

Some tips from the renowned entrepreneur Richard Branson on public speaking.   Though once a high school dropout, Richard Branson is a household name.   The following is a very short introduction to him from Wikipedia.

"Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate, best known as the founder and chairman of Virgin Group of more than 400 companies."

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225627

Richard Branson on the Art of Public Speaking

BY | February 4, 2013

2013年3月30日 星期六

The Third Year of High School--失落高三…苦了他 磨了媽

This is a high school senior's parent's response to the UDN article I posted on my entry yesterday.

http://udn.com/NEWS/OPINION/X1/7798419.shtml

失落高三…苦了他 磨了媽
【聯合報╱林沐雨/行政人員(高雄市)】
2013.03.30 01:49 am

2013年3月25日 星期一

2013年3月22日 星期五

Feedback from Melody to Monday's Workshop on Flip Teaching

I was grateful to receive Melody's (陳美麗老師) email this evening, which is a feedback to this Monday's workshop on flip teaching.  The following is the mail, which was sent to every English teacher at NHSH, followed by Melody's summary based on the workshop and research she did.  Good job, Melody!

2013年3月21日 星期四

PISA Released Items--Reading

Recently, PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) has been a hot issue in the education field.  Here is the official site of PISA in Taiwan.

Click the link, and you'll find sample test items. There are 17 sets of items, in different text formats.

http://pisa.nutn.edu.tw/download/sample_papers/PISA_RelItems_Rd_en.pdf

PISA Released Items--Reading

The following is an example from the 17 sets, which you can find on pages 55 to 58 and the reading text of which is the shortest.    

2013年3月18日 星期一

Discussion About the Flipped Classroom, plus How It Can Be Implemented in English Class in High School

This afternoon I was invited to go back to NHSH to have a talk with a few English teachers.  The workshop was divided into two parts.  In the first part, I used an excerpt of the article from Wikipedia on the flipped classroom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_teaching) as the text to demonstrate how I used to teach reading so that I could introduce this teaching approach at the same time.   In the second part, we brainstormed how to apply "the flipped classroom" approach to teach Martin Luther King's historic speech "I Have a Dream."

The attendees were Melody (陳美麗老師), Chris (林詠梅老師), Ching-ru (戴靜燸老師), and Crystal (黃心如老師).  They are referred to as "students" in the first part below.

2013年3月14日 星期四

The Best Colleges--聲譽最佳大學/哈佛3連霸 東大冠亞洲

This is just for your reference.  The best school is not necessarily best for everyone.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/education/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=444012

聲譽最佳大學/哈佛3連霸 東大冠亞洲

【聯合晚報╱國際新聞組╱綜合報導】2013/03/05

2013年3月11日 星期一

An English Learning Activity Welcomed by Students--Jokes

The first time I used this activity, I told my students, "A joke a day keeps the doctor away."  They laughed.  I started by writing the vocabulary words on the blackboard and pre-taught them.  Then I told the joke.  Sometimes I read a joke from a book or a magazine, such as Reader's Digest. 

2013年3月5日 星期二

Solving the Discourse Structure "Puzzle" on the UEE

Today I went back to NHSH to teach as a substitute teacher for one day.  After discussing the test items of the 2011 UEE, I offered the students tips on solving the Discourse Structure "puzzle" on the UEE.