NHSH, Happy 28th Anniversary!

Nice Chat with Diego

Time: 6pm, Oct. 30, 2015

Place: Chunshuitang, Xinyi Dist., Taipei

This evening, Diego, a former NHSH student who graduated in 2006, invited me to dinner. We chatted until around 10pm! He shared with me what his job is like. Also, as before, he opened my eyes to the technology world. Besides the smartphone, his focus was on the automotive industry.

"If meat causes cancer, what can we eat?"--from CNN

An important article which provides diet guidelines.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/26/health/meat-causes-cancer-food-alternatives/index.html

If meat causes cancer, what can we eat?

By Jen Christensen

Updated 1602 GMT (0002 HKT) October 27, 2015

(CNN)You may have just learned that processed meat such as bacon, sausage and ham may cause cancer and unprocessed meat may be "probably carcinogenic to humans," according to a new World Health Organization report. Or that cheese and sugar can be as addictive as a drug. Or that even veggie hot dogs may not be completely meat-free (or even human tissue-free), we recently learned.

My comments: The meniton of "or even human tissue-free" gave me goosebumps. ><

"Processed meats do cause cancer - WHO"--from BBC

This news was the headline of the UDN yesterday.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-34615621?ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=facebook

Processed meats do cause cancer - WHO

26 October 2015

• From the section Health

Processed meats - such as bacon, sausages and ham - do cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

My comments: The impact on related business! Howeve, if  they do harm health, we'd better avoid them.

A Leisurely and "Treeful" Afternoon

Last Friday, Tze-huang, a former NHSH student graduating in 2000, told me he would have this week off  from his internship and asked if he could invite me to lunch. Then we decided to have our gathering this noon. After lunch, instead of staying in an air-conditioned cafe chatting, I suggested we go to Taipei Botanical Garden for fresh air.

"15 Free Resources for Teaching High Frequency Vocabulary"--from TESOL Blog

Ms. Shvidko must have spent a lot of time fishing for and studying/reviewing these 15 vocabulary learning/teaching websites. Great job!

http://blog.tesol.org/15-free-resources-for-teaching-high-frequency-vocabulary/

15 Free Resources for Teaching High Frequency Vocabulary

Posted on 16 October 2015 by Elena Shvidko

And yet another blog on vocabulary resources. Today’s theme is high frequency vocabulary. Below is a list of resources for beginning and low-intermediate level students that can provide teachers with vocabulary worksheets, games, activities, and quizzes.

Hsin-fu & Yi-ting, Happy Marriage!

I attended my former Chiech Show colleague's son's wedding this noon at Amazing Hall, Taipei. Jay's also been my son's friend since their childhood.

We Are Family

Time: 6:30pm, Oct. 23, 2015

Place: Huakang Palace Wedding Party Hall, Taipei

Can you imagine celebrating birthdays together with your junior high schoolmates 40 years after graduation? We did that again yesterday evening!

Use What You Have and Do Your Best

This is so true!
"Some things that are really easy for you are real hard for me."

An Inspiring Video Based on Itzhak Perlman's "Playing on Three Strings" Story

Broken Strings Itzhak Perlman

 

Afternoon Tea with Friends

Afternoon tea with junior high school friends.

Time: 2:30pm, this afternoon

Place: The Landis, Taipei

Attendees: Alsa Lin, Chang-tai Chen, Chang-xin Xie, Ruey-sheng Hsiao.

Precious Photos

I got these two photos via email the other day. They were taken at Pine Garden in Hualien on Oct. 12, 2015 for one of the two groups respectively. We once studied at the same high school. After 40 years, we were taking a trip together. 10 years from now, shall we go on another trip with each other? Most in the photos were from abroad.

At a Former Colleague's Son's Wedding on Oct. 18

Time: 12pm, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2015

Place: Golden China Hotel, Taipei

Really happy to go to Hsu-dong and Pei-ling's wedding. Hsu-dong is my former Chiehshow JHS colleague Ms. Chang's (張文貞老師) son, who was about 6 years old the last year when I taught there. I still remember his big eyes.

Basic Photography Skills--"超詳盡攝影教學！101個新手必學的攝影技巧"

(By Meichu. Even though we were moving, the picture she took is very clear.)

Meichu (陳美珠), a good high school friend who has learned photography for around seven years, just LINEd and shared with me this website. Amazing guidelines! I decided to get familiar with one tip every day. 101 days from now, I will be able to take better pictures.

http://www.fotobeginner.com/14702/101-photography-tips-for-beginners/

超詳盡攝影教學！101個新手必學的攝影技巧

日期：2015年3月25日 • 作者：Alex Tam

The Happiness of Simplicity--"洪蘭／簡單的快樂"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7340/1257766-%E6%B4%AA%E8%98%AD%EF%BC%8F%E7%B0%A1%E5%96%AE%E7%9A%84%E5%BF%AB%E6%A8%82

洪蘭／簡單的快樂

2015-10-19 01:13:58      聯合報 洪蘭

一位新來的同事的心情常常不好，我們都知道早上不要找她開會，免得掃到颱風尾。熟了以後才知道，她家住郊區，每天早上必須先送女兒去台北上學，才能來上課。她女兒早上起床後，就在廁所對鏡梳頭髮，梳一個小時也不出來，常常弄得來不及吃早飯。為了怕女兒遲到挨罰，她只好開快車，一不小心就超速，每個月的薪水一半繳了罰單。她嘆氣說：真懷念以前有髮禁的日子，大家專心讀書，誰也不嫌誰醜，因為大家一樣醜！說得大家都笑起來。的確，選擇多時，反而煩惱，有實驗發現太多的選擇會增加心智的負擔，減低自我控制的能力。

Even If You Didn't Make the Right Decision--"就算選錯，人生也不會毀了"

An article by Hsiao-yei which I sent to myself via email. I came across it while cleaning out my email inbox. This reminds me of a sentence I told a student. He told me on the phone on the morning of the first day of SAT that he didn't sleep well the night before. Upon hearing it, I replied, "Just because you didn't sleep well last night doesn't mean you can't function well today." He did very well on the SAT, ranking the 5th in school.

http://www.read-life.com/2015/07/07/admin-1418/

Happy Encounter with Yu-han

This morning, at MOS Burger, I bumped into Yu-han, a former student who graduated in 2011 and is now studying at graduate school at National Central University. We were so happy about the encounter that we gave each other bear hugs several times. Yu-han was wondering whether it was right to choose to study instead of taking a job after graduating from college. I told her, "You never know. Don't regret over your decision because you'll never know whether the other option is better. Just keep going."

40 Years After We Graduated

On Oct. 11 afternoon, we, graduating from TFG 40 years ago, paid a visit to our alma mater.

Nice Gathering with Annie

wikiHow: Interesting and Useful Website

At this website, all the articles begin with "how to" and offer practical tips on doing something.

http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page

For example, here's how to help someone with low self esteem:

http://www.wikihow.com/Help-Someone-With-Low-Self-Esteem

 

To Make the Past Listening Test Public Or Not?--"高中英聽公布考古題？ 大考中心：不宜"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/6885/1249372-%E9%AB%98%E4%B8%AD%E8%8B%B1%E8%81%BD%E5%85%AC%E5%B8%83%E8%80%83%E5%8F%A4%E9%A1%8C%EF%BC%9F-%E5%A4%A7%E8%80%83%E4%B8%AD%E5%BF%83%EF%BC%9A%E4%B8%8D%E5%AE%9C

高中英聽公布考古題？ 大考中心：不宜

2015-10-15 08:30:29      聯合報 記者張錦弘／台北報導

高中、補教師：至少公布常出錯題目 才能對症下藥

大學招生已正式採計的高中英聽測驗，過去3年從未公布考過的試題與答案。高中及補教老師昨要求大考中心公布英聽考古題，至少每年要公布考生較常出錯的題目，老師才可對症下藥，有效改善學生的英聽能力。

"A History Between VW and Porsche"--from Diego

A history between VW and Porsche. An article by Diego, a former student who is insightful about many issues. He LINEd and invited me to read this post this evening.  I've been always amazed at his memory and knowledge and even suggested that he be a college professor.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/diego-khoo/dk%E8%AC%9B%E5%8F%A4%E7%A6%8F%E6%96%AF%E5%A4%A7%E7%9C%BE%E9%9B%86%E5%9C%98%E8%88%87%E4%BF%9D%E6%99%82%E6%8D%B7%E7%9A%84%E6%9C%B1%E9%96%80%E6%81%A9%E6%80%A8/1035342046500225

 

Reunion Trip

I am in Hualien, on a high school reunion trip.

TFG Reunion_the 40th Graduation Anniversary

My junior and senior class 高三忠

Hong-yin & Pu-wei's Wedding

Time: 6pm, Oct. 10, 2010

Place: Brother Hotel, Taipei

This evening I attended my deceased former colleague's (羅珊 老師) daughter's wedding. When Hong-yin's father asked me a few months ago if it was ok to invite some NHSH colleagues, I said it would definitely be our honor to be at the wedding. We would be happy to witness one of the happiest moment of our dear friend's daughter's life.

"Svetlana Alexievich wins Nobel Literature prize"--from BBC

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34475251

Svetlana Alexievich wins Nobel Literature prize

8 October 2015  From the section Entertainment & Arts

Belarusian writer and journalist Svetlana Alexievich has won the 2015 Nobel Prize for literature.

Announcing the prize in Stockholm, the chair of the Swedish Academy, Sara Danius, called her writing "a monument to courage and suffering in our time".

Alexievich called the award, presented to a living writer and worth 8m kronor (£691,000), "a great personal joy."

My comments: It is! Had she ever dreamed of winning the prize? I don't think so.

TFG 40th Reunion Theme Songs

This Sunday, Oct. 11, I am going to attend a TFG school reunion banquet. Actually we celebrated our graduation in the 30th year in 2005. 40th is a bigger number, so we had not only a banquet but also a 3-day trip to Hualien, starting Oct. 12.

The following are three songs we'll sing together on Sunday. They are all songs that accompanied us in our teens, and thus remind us of the good old days we spent together. Each video contains not only the song with its lyrics but also photos.

Nice Seeing You Again, Biling

When I was in the States in September, Biling, or Chia-wei, a student graduating in 2006, sent me a private FB message, requesting a meet-up. And here we are.

Biling is a reporter for Taiwan indigenous TV. During the gathering tonight, he shared with me his working experience. It is not new that the job of a reporter is tough and stressful. However, Biling seems to enjoy it quite much. He told me his work required that he get in touch with different people and deal with a variety of issues and that to him, that was the fun. As a teacher, I'm always happy about students' happiness.

How To De-Stress 9th Graders--"李家同：如何減輕國中生升學壓力"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7339/1231213-%E6%9D%8E%E5%AE%B6%E5%90%8C%EF%BC%9A%E5%A6%82%E4%BD%95%E6%B8%9B%E8%BC%95%E5%9C%8B%E4%B8%AD%E7%94%9F%E5%8D%87%E5%AD%B8%E5%A3%93%E5%8A%9B

李家同：如何減輕國中生升學壓力

2015-10-06 01:40:14      聯合報 李家同／清華大學榮譽教授（新竹市）

最近政府和社會又在關心十二年國教問題，我相信政府知道十二年國教並沒減輕學生壓力，所以有重新採計在校成績的想法。雖然很多家長反對，但我要指出，在十二年國教施行以前，國中生升高中是有完全免試的，採計在校成績也可以升學。以博幼基金會的學生為例，當時有七十％學生免試進高中職；值得注意的是，我們的學生都是想要進社區高中職，並沒有想要進明星高中。這種免試管道對於這種孩子是非常適當的，如孩子程度相當高，一心一意要想進明星高中，當然不太可能用這種管道。

What 9th Grade Life Is Like--"國三課 官員來上上看"

http://udn.com/news/story/7339/1229014-%E5%9C%8B%E4%B8%89%E8%AA%B2-%E5%AE%98%E5%93%A1%E4%BE%86%E4%B8%8A%E4%B8%8A%E7%9C%8B

國三課 官員來上上看

2015-10-05 01:43:30      聯合報 曾慧珊／教師（桃園市）

乍見聯合報報導「落實免試，教部擬提前國中會考、降低比重」，心裡的怨氣又升起，不解為何政府官員們總是不食人間煙火，和民意有如此大的距離？

單就會考來談，一個是「時程」問題，會考五月中舉行，學生考完後大解放，老師要進行課程難上加難，儘管學校三申五令要照表操課，請老師規劃加深加廣課程，以利學生銜接高中學習，無奈學生根本不想聽不想學，最好每一節都上電腦課、體育課；許多老師只得放影片安撫學生，學校亂哄哄，校園管理相當困難。這種「加深加廣」的課程，可以請唱高調的官員們來上上看嗎？

My comments: What if teachers teach what is related to students' life? Take English for example, teachers can have students put on a play depicting junior high school life in Taiwan or somewhere else. Don't expect students to listen to your lecture; just have them do something.

Goodbye, USA! I'll See You Again

I'm leaving San Jose for Taiwan this afternoon CA time. During the 23 days' stay here, what impressed me most is

1. The air quality. Even though it is very hot sometime somewhere, the air keeps pleasant to breathe in;

How Do You Say in English "兩台互換" on the TV Remote Control?

I never thought about the English equivalent of this phrase until I came to stay with my sister in San Jose.

Happy World Smile Day!

(picture from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiley)

"Do an act of kindness. Help one person smile." Yes!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Smile_Day



 

Guess Where I Was

Guess where I was on Sep. 25, the day before I went on the four-day trip. A cafe?