"We Created a Fake Job"--a Video

A video LINEd by a junior high school English teacher of mine. At the end of the film, I found my eyes brimming with tears.
Although there are no subtitles, the English is very clear.

"Five Best Practices for the Flipped Classroom"--from eduTopia

Before I retired in August 2012, the flipped classroom was already in practice. But around that time, I had no idea about it.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipped-classroom-best-practices-andrew-miller

Five Best Practices for the Flipped Classroom

Andrew Miller           February 24, 2012

Ok, I'll be honest. I get very nervous when I hear education reformists and politicians tout how "incredible" the flipped-classroom model, or how it will "solve" many of the problems of education. It doesn't solve anything. It is a great first step in reframing the role of the teacher in the classroom.

Using a Novel in Class

The other day, I found an article in a Longman ELT catalogue (1995-1996) entitled "WHAT EVERY TEACHER NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT GRADED READING." Besides explaining what graded readers are, it offers ways of using graded readers in class. The photos of the two-page article will come at the end of this entry.

"4 Characteristics of Effective Teachers of ELs"--from TESOL Blog

http://blog.tesol.org/4-characteristics-of-effective-teachers-of-els/

4 Characteristics of Effective Teachers of ELs

Posted on 23 April 2015 by Judie Haynes

The number of English learners (ELs) in U.S. schools has increased 51 % over the past 10 years, and the achievement gap between ELs and general population students has grown wider. The percentage of English learners who score “below basic” on standardized tests was 72% on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) math exam, which is three times lower than the general population of students. In addition, 66% of ELs live 200% below the poverty line.

After a Daughter Died--"網路霸凌／沒有怨恨的父親"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7339/862936-%E7%B6%B2%E8%B7%AF%E9%9C%B8%E5%87%8C%EF%BC%8F%E6%B2%92%E6%9C%89%E6%80%A8%E6%81%A8%E7%9A%84%E7%88%B6%E8%A6%AA

網路霸凌／沒有怨恨的父親

2015-04-26 01:52:53      聯合報 李枝桃／國中校長（南投市）

我喜歡一個人在家做家事時，把電視打開，並不一定要看新聞，只是想要家裡有點聲音，所以通常是聽而不聞；但一遍遍的重複著楊又穎的新聞，重複著記者一遍遍的話：「楊又穎的父親彭作奎沒有一句怨言」、「楊又穎的父親彭作奎沒有一句怨言」。

"Exercise 'not key to obesity fight'"--from BBC

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32417699

Exercise 'not key to obesity fight'

By Nick Triggle         Health correspondent

• 
  
  23 April 2015

Physical activity has little role in tackling obesity - and instead public health messages should squarely focus on unhealthy eating, doctors say.

In an editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, three international experts said it was time to "bust the myth" about exercise.

"Good ESL Teacher Attributes"--from NTNU/EDAC Newsletter

The following is an article in an NTNU/EDC newsletter (June 5, 1985, No. 6) I discovered in an old file. Since it could not be found online, I typed it up to share in my blog. The words in the brackets were given by me because the originals were missing as you can see in a picture following the essay.

GOOD ESL TEACHER ATTRIBUTES

Chen-chin Li

During the weekly ESL (English as a Second/Foreign Language) seminar presentation, Prof. Ted Plaister proposed 68 “Good Teacher Attributes”, asserting that there are indeed recognizable features of good teaching. However, he is not convinced that all these attributes can be taught. Some, on the other hand, can be learned.

高行健：不用手機很荒謬 但不能取代知識

http://m.udn.com/xhtml/HistoryArt?articleid=4292933

高行健：不用手機很荒謬 但不能取代知識

20150423

諾貝爾文學獎得主高行健今天在台師大進行通識講座，講題為「面向21世紀──談創作者的位置」。高行健說，跨領域可以激發創意，他自己讀書的習慣是「什麼書都要讀」，而且什麼都涉獵；雖然他後來以文學著稱，但中學時他的物理和數學成績常拿100分，也拉小提琴、演戲。學這些並不妨礙，因為年輕人精力很旺盛。

My comments: Here's a sentence I read in my notes the other day: "Do not use your time and words carelessly, both of which cannot be retrieved." Everyone has 24 hours, but they accomplish differently.

My Digital Camera, Thank You

When doing the cleaning-up, I have to give or throw away lots of handouts, copies of students' essays, newspaper clippings, notes, magazines, etc. Were it not for my digital camera, this would be too hard.

"Flip Your Classroom With EDpuzzle: Video Lessons"--from TESOL Blog

http://blog.tesol.org/flip-your-classroom-with-edpuzzle-video-lessons/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

Flip Your Classroom With EDpuzzle: Video Lessons

Posted on 31 March 2015 by Tara Arntsen

As the flipped classroom approach continues to gain popularity, there are more and more sites to help teachers flip their classrooms. Delivering the content of a course to students outside the classroom usually entails the use of videos, and I have already suggested eduCanon and YouTube for that purpose in previous posts. If you have not tried either of those, or if they did not quite work out for you, I have another one today called EDpuzzle.

My comments: The flipped classroom approach requires students to learn the content of the subject by themselves with the help of videos or other resources made or provided by teachers. This way, they can learn at their own pace.

Homemade Gifts for Students

I used to make bookmarks for students as gifts. The above one, with the text of General MacArthur's Prayer for His Son, was given in the hope that the words might help students face challenges in life head on.

"Good Things to Learn"

This is a page of positive quotations I found in an old teaching file this evening. However, the website Geocities is closed. So I'd like to type it up and share. You don't need to agree with everything you read.

Good Things To Learn

Learn to laugh. A good laugh is better than medicine.

Learn how to tell a story. A well-told story is as welcome as a sunbeam in a sick room.

Taipei's best beef noodles

This dish is one of the things that people in Taipei are proud of. Click the link and enjoy an array of ictures of mouthwatering beef noodles.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/14/travel/taipei-best-beef-noodles/index.html

Taipei's best beef noodles

By Dave Tacon, for CNN

Updated 2:54 AM ET, Wed April 15, 2015

Taipei, Taiwan (CNN)—Beef and noodles in broth -- how much can it mean to a city?

Does Everyone Have To Go To College?

Today while the painters were painting my apartment, we chatted. One of them, Mr. Wang, said it doesn't make any sense for students who don't have any interest in studies to go to college. Rather than wasting time doing what they don't like to do and actually not doing anything about studies, they should learn some skill and become an expert in a certain field.

Writing Poetry

Today I bumped into a handout made years ago. It reminded me of a poetry-writing activity I had students do outdoors because it was such a nice day that I decided not to keep students in the classroom. The students read four poems with the same pattern and then write in pairs one or more poems of their own. The following is what they read:

Rread and think.

1.

Morning

new and bright

waking up

like a new start

if only I could skip school. (Yi-chun Tsou)

You Can Dream Differently

http://udn.com/news/story/6899/837033-%E5%8D%97%E4%B8%80%E4%B8%AD%E7%AC%AC%E4%B8%80%E5%90%8D%E6%A3%84%E5%AD%B8%E6%B8%AC-%E6%8B%BF%E6%99%AE%E6%9E%97%E6%96%AF%E9%A0%93%E7%8D%8E%E5%AD%B8%E9%87%91

南一中第一名棄學測 拿普林斯頓獎學金

2015-04-15 08:23:20      聯合報 記者鄭惠仁／台南報導

南一中科學班三年級學生蔡昆霖全校排第一，但他放棄考學測，全力申請美國大學，如願申請上常春藤盟校普林斯頓大學，且獲全額獎學金。蔡昆霖希望未來能在物理領域發展。

A Beautiful Afternoon with Wonderful Friends

(Photos from Annie)

Before Shu (劉書真老師) goes back to the States tomorrow, we six, Shu, Annie (詹麗馨老師), Angel (林佩蓉老師), Yili (彭宜秝老師), Meiyun (張美雲老師) and I, set aside time from our busy schedule to have a gathering this afternoon.

To Let Go Or Not to

While cleaning out my home, I came across a lot of cards from students. To my surprise, I've still kept those from the junior high school students I taught more than 30 years ago. Now here's a dilemma: Should I keep or dump them? Finally, I decided to have them stay.

Hsiao-jen, Congratulations!

In the evening around 10 o'clock, Hsiao-jen, a former homeroom student who gradauted from NHSH in 2006, visited and gave me her engagement cake. She was engaged yesterday. I'm really happy for her and thank her for sharing with me the good news. We kept giving each other hugs.

A Gathering with Yuhan

New Taipei City English Speech Contest

Days ago, I was invited to be a judge for the New Taipei City Junior High School English Speech Contest, which was held today. The other two judges were Mark and Ms. Chiao-yu Chen.  

Teaching Values--"洪蘭／價值觀才是教育本質"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7340/825321-%E6%B4%AA%E8%98%AD%EF%BC%8F%E5%83%B9%E5%80%BC%E8%A7%80%E6%89%8D%E6%98%AF%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2%E6%9C%AC%E8%B3%AA

洪蘭／價值觀才是教育本質

一位美國朋友轉了一個用機器伐木的短片給我，很感慨的說，當年他去阿拉斯加砍木頭，賺取學費，從早砍到晚，才砍一棵樹；現在機器一分鐘砍一棵，砍下後，立刻鋸成一般長的木頭，用特殊的卡車運送下山。一台機器可抵五百個人一天的工作量，而且操作輕鬆自在，跟他以前的汗流浹背不可同日而語。

A Gathering with Ching-yan

This noon, I had a gathering with Ching-yan, a former homeroom student who graduated in 2011 and is a senior at NTU majoring in English. He is graduating this June and planning to go on studying at graduate school.

周行一／我們不需要徬徨

http://udn.com/news/story/7340/822724-%E5%91%A8%E8%A1%8C%E4%B8%80%EF%BC%8F%E6%88%91%E5%80%91%E4%B8%8D%E9%9C%80%E8%A6%81%E5%BE%AC%E5%BE%A8

周行一／我們不需要徬徨

2015-04-08 01:39:29      聯合報 周行一（國立政治大學校長）

我問學生：「臉書創辦人祖克柏（Zukerberg）為何放棄哈佛大學的學業？」學生回答：「他要去創業。」

我問另外一位學生：「你將來要做什麼？」學生回答：「想考公務員，將來生活比較安定。」

An Episode

When it occurred to me that I hadn't written my blog a few minutes ago after I finished today's cleaning-up mission, it was already two minutes past twelve o'clock. It means that it was already April 8 and that I missed keeping the April 7 entry.

"A Plan for a Class Reunion"--A Full Score Essay on the 2005 CEEC Writing

The following is the only composition that scored full marks on the 2005 CEEC.

二、英文作文( 2 0 % )

說明：1. 依提示在「答案卷」上寫一篇英文作文。2. 文長至少120個單詞。

提示︰指定科目考試完畢後，高中同學決定召開畢業後的第一次同學會，你被公推負責主辦。請將你打算籌辦的活動寫成一篇短文。文分兩段，第一段詳細介紹同學  會的時間、地點及活動內容，第二段則說明採取這種活動方式的理由。

"3 Thematic-Based Vocabulary Learning Websites"--from TESOL Bolg

When words of the same theme are learend together, students have enough vocabulary to talk about a related topic and make their talk more substantial. Therefore, I'm interested in dictionaries of this kind. And that's why Ms. Shvidko's blog caught my attention. Hopefully, there are some thematic-based vocabulary learning websites for different levels of English learners.

http://blog.tesol.org/3-thematic-based-vocabulary-learning-websites/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

3 Thematic-Based Vocabulary Learning Websites

Posted on 3 April 2015 by Elena Shvidko

Let’s continue talking about online vocabulary resources! Today, I’d like to introduce three vocabulary websites for beginning-level learners, in which vocabulary items are organized based on themes. The features provided in these websites allow using them in class as well as for learning vocabulary independently.

A One-page Grammar Handout for Ninth Graders in Taiwan

(Please click the image twice to enlarge it.)

A perfect mess! Flipping through the old handouts and test papers to decide which to stay, I found this handout.

Tenses: Simple Future, Future Progressive, or Future Perfect?

This afternoon, my niece asked me an English grammar question:

What's the difference between simple future, future progressive, and future perfect tenses?

Entrance Exam or Not?--"聯考已不符時代需求"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/6902/808368-%E5%9B%9E%E6%87%89%E6%9D%8E%E5%AE%B6%E5%90%8C-%E7%AB%A5%E5%AD%90%E8%B3%A2%EF%BC%9A%E8%81%AF%E8%80%83%E5%B7%B2%E4%B8%8D%E7%AC%A6%E6%99%82%E4%BB%A3%E9%9C%80%E6%B1%82

回應李家同 童子賢：聯考已不符時代需求

2015-04-01 08:09:58      聯合報 記者林秀姿／台北報導

「太多教育資源集中在PR值98以上的人 盼多關注底層的孩子」

清大榮譽講座教授李家同日前主張「李家同：不要再折磨年輕人 改回聯招吧」引起社會討論，和碩聯合科技董事長童子賢昨強調，聯考只是「形式」公平，不代表社會需要這些會考試的人，社會集中太多教育資源在培養PR值98以上的人，希望社會多關注底層PR值30以下的孩子，「他們將來可能會是台灣之光。」

"Success in English" by Bruce Bagnell

In a publication of Taipei Municipal Cung Cheng Senior High School, Y-generation (No. 2 April, 1996), I found this article by Mr. Bruce Bagnell.

Why Not?

This afternoon, I had a meet-up with Brian, a former student I taught at Chieh-show Junior High School, a gathering before he goes back to the States tomorrow. He talked about many Westerners' complext of superiority based on his own experience. At this, I mentioned the line in the song Colors of the Wind from the movie Pocahontas: "You think the only people who are people are the people who look and think like you." But I told him people are different. Some are arrogant; some are humble. This has been a fact since a long time ago.