A Way to Improve Writing

This morning, while visiting my sister-in-law in the hospital, my nephew who has taken TOEFL and GRE asked me how to improve writing ability. I told him to read both extensively and intensively.

"7 Principles of Written Feedback"--from TESOL Blog

http://blog.tesol.org/7-principles-of-written-feedback/

7 Principles of Written Feedback

Posted on 25 December 2015 by Elena Shvidko

A few weeks ago, the TESOL Second Language Writing Interest Section had a webinar on written feedback, monitored by Dana Ferris—the author of multiple books and articles on response to student writing. I found the webinar extremely helpful, and I would like to share some principles of feedback mentioned during the discussion.

My comments: I believe students are more eager to read the comments from the teacher than the corrections.

An Enjoyable Meet-up with Diego and Taco

Time: 18:30~21:30, Dec. 30, 2015

Place: Chunshuitang, Hsin-yi Dist., Taipei

Participants: Diego (邱元亨), Taco (hostess), and me

Binge-watching

The other day, I learned the phrase "binge-watch" from a special column by Kang Hsuan Educational Publishing Group in the UDN. And a few days later, a high school classmate who lives in the US used this word in her message: "I've been binge-watching a Korean TV show." From the sentence, you can guess the meaning of this verb.

"I don’t want to..."這樣說很幼稚！3種「孩子氣」句型別再用了

http://www.businessweekly.com.tw/KBlogArticle.aspx?id=15011

 "I don’t want to..."這樣說很幼稚！3種「孩子氣」句型別再用了

撰文者世界公民文化中心

很多人學到的英文停留在高中、國中甚至國小程度，用語沒有經過「社會化」洗禮，直白、孩子氣，或者禮貌僵硬過了頭，若是運用在私生活也就罷了，出現在職場中，就很不得體。以下三種孩子氣句型，請試著避免在正式場合使用：

A Nice Afternoon

Time: 1pm, Dec. 28, 2015

Place: Vegetarian Restaurant, Taipei (佰樂健)

Participants: 蔡孟芳, 林佩蓉 (Organizer), 李欣蓉

丟掉 Google 翻譯！英語學習者必知 4 大正宗線上字典

Shared by Sarah via FB:

http://buzzorange.com/vidaorange/2015/06/24/the-best-dictionary/

丟掉 Google 翻譯！英語學習者必知 4 大正宗線上字典

VoiceTube                                    2015-06-24                    學習, 教育, 英文

 

 

Don't Buy a Cellphone for Your Kids--"閱讀生活／不要給小孩買手機"

I agree with the author.

http://udn.com/news/story/7272/1401736

閱讀生活／不要給小孩買手機

2015-12-26 08:06 聯合報 文汪培珽（教養作家）

不是手機不好，而是，小學年紀的孩子為什麼需要手機？生活，愈單純愈好，不要沒事把自己弄得心慌慌的。

小孩早上去上學，下午放學回家，如果是父母接送，約好地點，根本不需要手機。萬一在學校有事要聯絡呢？用學校的公用電話就好，也讓孩子養成習慣：離開父母的視線後，就要為自己負責，雞毛蒜皮的小事不要找父母報告。所以，我實在想不出來，小學生為什麼需要手機？

On English Teaching/Learning in Junior High School--"「沒用的學最久」 教授批國中英語教太難"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/6902/1399643-「沒用的學最久」-教授批國中英語教太難

「沒用的學最久」 教授批國中英語教太難

2015-12-25 08:47 聯合報 記者林秀姿／台北報導

「不會用到的，花最多時間學」，近幾年在偏鄉推動「減法教學」的實踐大學應用外語系講座教授陳超明認為，台灣的英語教育只教「知識」，卻不教「能力」；導致一直塞單字、文法給學生，結果最後連最基本的能力也沒有。

My comments: English should not be a subject, but a skill.

Make Sure They've Learned the Basic--"李家同：基礎沒學會 學生怎有競爭力"

http://udn.com/news/story/7339/1397736-%E6%9D%8E%E5%AE%B6%E5%90%8C%EF%BC%9A%E5%9F%BA%E7%A4%8E%E6%B2%92%E5%AD%B8%E6%9C%83-%E5%AD%B8%E7%94%9F%E6%80%8E%E6%9C%89%E7%AB%B6%E7%88%AD%E5%8A%9B

李家同：基礎沒學會 學生怎有競爭力

2015-12-24 01:56 聯合報 李家同／清華大學榮譽教授（新竹市）

最近很多教授發現學生英文文法錯得非常嚴重，有一位教授告訴我，他有一次看到一些高中學生寫的英文文章，令他大吃一驚，因為裡面有一些錯誤是很可怕的。比方說：may going, teached, can played, they is, she are, I'm watch, is make the battery等等。他知道這些學生當初在會考的時候，排名大概在前卅％，也就是說，至少有七十％的同學是比這些學生還要差的。從這個例子可以看出來，我們國家至少有七十％的高中畢業生會犯嚴重的文法錯誤。這是一件嚴重的事，在我看來，政府不該不重視。

My comments: I believe if these students had often had the chance to speak English either in or out of class, they wouldn't have made such mistakes in writing. For example, if a student says, "May I use your pen?" "May I go to the bathroom?" he/she won't put Ving after "may."

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

It's Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas, everyone!

"O Holy Night," my favorite Christmas carol, sounds like a song of angels, very peaceful. I fell in love with it the first time I heard it years ago. I just learned from Wikipedia that the carol was composed by a French wine merchant and poet in 1847! The singing edition was created by John Sullivan Dwight  in 1855.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Holy_Night
O Holy Night sung by Il Divo:

A Date with Hsiao-chao

Time: 11:30am-4pm, Dec. 24, 2015

Place: Tokiyo, Taipei Guangfu S

Partcipants: My TFG High School Classmates: 陳美珠 (organizer), 陳曉昭, 吳玉惠, 侯明德, 高如玲, 謝金森

At Our Gathering, We Laughed to Our Hearts' Content

Time: 6pm, Dec. 22, 2015 (At noon, I had a reunion with my college teacher and classmates.)

Place: Hai Pa Wang, Taipei

Participants: My Xin-xing Junior High Schoolmates: 高儷綾, 陳俊智, 杜欽榮, 李學樞, 吳萌莉,林金枝, 林秋芬, 林春姿, 林素卿, 唐銑, 馬Yo-yo, 張同科, 張純善, 張雪芬, 黃俊智, 邱志雄, 陳長泰,  陳婉玲, 謝瑞坤, 羅麗雪

A Visit to the Liang Shih-chiu House

Time: 2pm, Dec. 22, 2015

Participants: 劉璧君老師, 何廷芳, 邱金城, 萬里仁, 劉豔雲, and 李欣蓉

NTNU Class Reunion

"High school students propose 'No Cell Phone Day'"--from Focus Taiwan

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201512200019.aspx

High school students propose 'No Cell Phone Day'

2015/12/20 22:33:45

Taipei, Dec. 20 (CNA) High schools students on Sunday proposed the idea of a "No Cell Phone Day" to educational officials, saying mobile phones addictions could alienate students from society.

"How to Live to 100: Researchers Find New Genetic Clues"--from TIME

http://time.com/4153835/live-longer-genetic-clues/?xid=newsletter-brief

How to Live to 100: Researchers Find New Genetic Clues

• Alice Park @aliceparkny  Dec. 17, 2015

In a new analysis, researchers explore whether people live longer because they avoid disease or because they possess some anti-aging secret

My comments: Can we say both?

"6 things that happiest teachers do every day"--from TOP-TALK

This afternoon, Annie LINEd me this link: http://www.toptalkrise.com/?m=1   A really nice website! After a very brief browse, I decided to read the following article first to see if the 6 things matched what I did when I was a teacher.

http://www.toptalkrise.com/2015/12/6-things-that-happiest-teachers-do.html

6 things that happiest teachers do every day

We ALL know who they are.  They're the teachers who are smiling almost every time you pass them in the hallways. They look energized and motivated.  Most of the time, they'll take a moment to ask how your day is going or about something in your personal life.  They're the teachers who are adored by their students and parents.  They rarely pass on negative information or chime in during a teacher gripe fest.  They truly and genuinely LOVE their jobs, and it shows.

My comments: This was what I was like. A happy teacher.

Wedding in Taiwan Via My Son's Wedding Video_Simplified Version

Today at lunch, my brother-in-law mentioned that his daughter, my niece, hadn't seen my son's wedding video. She didn't attend his wedding on May 30 this year because she was studying in Denver then. This reminded me that I hadn't shown the video to the family on either my husband's or my side. So in the evening I sent the link to the family LINE groups.

Meandering Around Neigousi (內溝溪) with Junior High Schoolmates

Time: 9am~2pm

Place: Neigousi, Taipei

Who? 林必芳, 郭明益, 張雪芬, her husband Mr. Liang, and me

On Overcoming Difficulties--"葉丙成：人不卡，不成器"--from Education, Parenting, Family Lifestyle

An article from I came across in a magazine. Inspiring!

http://flipedu.parenting.com.tw/blog-detail?id=2037

葉丙成：人不卡，不成器

作者：葉丙成

在美國留學時，有件事影響我很大。從小考試解題很厲害，不管什麼題目總能很快解完。我很自豪，殊不知二十年來這習慣造成不良影響，讓我留學時狠狠跌一跤。

當時帶我做研究的是位韓國學長，他把自己寫的通訊系統模擬程式碼給我用，還給我研究的方向。他鼓勵我先研讀他寫的程式碼以對系統通盤了解。一直找不到方向的我，很興奮回家研讀學長的程式碼。但看別人的程式碼真不容易懂，才五分鐘我就有不懂的地方，趕緊打電話問。正在忙著趕博士論文的學長，耐心說明。又看了五分鐘，又發現某處不懂，又打電話問，學長再次耐心回答。十分鐘後，又不懂了，再打電話。這時學長語重心長說：「Ping-Cheng，明天我們見面談談。」

A Trip to Taoyuan and Sanxia

The temperature was 11~13 ℃, but feeling the beauty of nature, my heart was warm. "A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

Today George had a day off, we had originally planned to go on a one-day trip with a tour group to Nantou. On a second thought, Nantou is too far, so if my sister-in-law who is sick needs help, it would be very difficult for us to come back to Taipei in an hour. We changed our mind yesterday and decided to drive to Taoyuan for Luchu Flower Festival in Taoyuan. Although it won't open until this coming Sunday, Dec. 19, seas of daisies were already there nodding in the wind to welcome us when we arrived. Daisy is the nickname for Margaret.

Glad to Hep

Guess why we two retired teachers sat in an NHSH classroom.

Kids Have No Idea What Difficulty Is--"洪蘭／孩子哪知什麼是難"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7340/1375900

洪蘭／孩子哪知什麼是難

2015-12-14 01:36 聯合報 洪蘭

最近我的研究團隊有幸被邀請到哈斯金實驗室（Haskins）去參加「世界高峰會議」（Global Summit），因為我們是亞洲唯一的代表隊，所以大家都很興奮。那天早上九點不到，各國的研究團隊都到了，但是論壇卻遲遲沒有開始。國外開會一向都很準時，我有點驚訝，也有點不滿，因為時間很寶貴，一個人一分鐘，六十個人就浪費了一個小時，正要發問時，一陣騷動，一堆安全人員進來，我嚇了一跳，因為不久以前巴黎才爆炸過，幸好不是恐怖分子，是康州（Connecticut）的州長來了，後面還跟著耶魯大學的校長和康州大學的校長。

Gathering with Old Friends

Time: 12pm-3pm, Dec. 15, 2015

Place: Citystar Restaurant （吉星飲茶餐廳)

Attendees: 周本華, 羅淑英, 許玫華, and 李欣蓉

A lunch gathering with old Chieh-show colleagues and friends. Three of us were English teachers. We chatted about health, politics, religion, and life. Everyone had a good time. I learned a lot from our conversation and became street smarter.

"Saying Good-bye to Cambridge Again" 再別康橋--a Song by Xu Zhimo

What a beautiful song! It was based on the poem by Xu Zhimo (徐志摩), a famous Chinese poet, in 1928. The song always stirs some sentimental sadness in my heart, thinking of someone's departure. You can find the Chinese poem and its English translation in Wikipedia:

Tips on Preparation for the English Test on SAT--"學測衝刺（二）／英文大量閱讀 時事注意食安、恐攻"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/6926/1372308

學測衝刺（二）／英文大量閱讀 時事注意食安、恐攻

2015-12-12 07:13 聯合報 本報記者陳智華

學測英文分成選擇題與非選擇題兩大部分，選擇題包括詞彙、綜合測驗、文意選填及閱讀測驗，非選擇題則包括中譯英與作文。高中和補教老師建議，英文科最後衝刺至少要熟背4500個基本字彙，每天都要大量閱讀英文文章，並持續練習翻譯及寫作；食安問題及恐怖攻擊等時事今年繼續延燒，也要注意。

Have Fun! --"學賈伯斯「玩」出2倍生產力"--from the UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7339/1372684

學賈伯斯「玩」出2倍生產力

2015-12-12 02:04 聯合報 賴鼎銘／世新大學前校長（台北市）

因為大選，教育議題成為候選人焦點。但觀諸發言，總覺並未觸及關鍵問題。

二年前，人才培育白皮書建議培養生產力為目前二倍的人才；建議具前瞻性，但落實之道至今無解。過了二年，局勢每下愈況！現在面對的更是學子學習動機不足的問題。

"Have you read Amazon's best-selling book of 2015?"--from the UDN

Visit the website to see the picture of the cover of each of the 20 books, with a brief descripition.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/09/living/best-selling-books-amazon-feat/index.html

Have you read Amazon's best-selling book of 2015?

By Todd Leopold, CNN

Updated 1503 GMT (2303 HKT) December 9, 2015

(CNN)Harper Lee's "Go Set a Watchman" may have been Goodreads' best fiction book of 2015.

Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Between the World and Me" may have dominated honors given to the year's literary output.

But when it comes down to what sold the most copies on Amazon.com -- the country's biggest online bookseller -- t

Restrictive Relative Clause vs. Non-restrictive Relative Clause

These days, when going over both a student's research and teaching statements and my nephew's SOP, I've found a common grammatical problem: When a non-restrictive relative clause should have been used, they used a restrictive one.

For example,

* "...it is about the electronic third party payment system which brought shock to the existing financial institutions..."

Mandarin Musical "Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder"

Time: 7:30pm-10pm

Place: National Concert Hall, Taipei.

Attendees: 丘秋萱, 周秀蘋, 陳美珠, 陳萬玲, 李欣蓉

Happy Gathering for 10 Hours on End

Attended a gathering with eight junior high schoolmates and our beloved chemistry teacher Ms. Lee today.

On Writing--"廖玉蕙／推窗放入大江來"--from the UDN

Although this article is about Chinese writing on SAT, its main points can be applied to English writing.

http://udn.com/news/story/7340/1361051-%E5%BB%96%E7%8E%89%E8%95%99%EF%BC%8F%E6%8E%A8%E7%AA%97%E6%94%BE%E5%85%A5%E5%A4%A7%E6%B1%9F%E4%BE%86

廖玉蕙／推窗放入大江來

2015-12-07 02:19 聯合報 廖玉蕙

從新聞報導中得知，自一○七學年起，學測的國文非選擇題將獨立施測，目的在讓學生有充裕時間構思作答，希望更能考出學生的實力。指考也不再重測作文，各校系可憑學測成績，自行設定錄取門檻，我以為這樣的調整是相當有意義的。

My comments: I think so. When essay writing is given together with multiple choice questions, the credibility is questionable. Some examinees might produce a bad essay or cannot even finish the writing task just because they have spent too much time on the multiple choice part. The English writing on SAT should also be done separately.

TFG School Reunion

Time: 10:30am~4:00pm, Dec. 6, 2015

Place: Denwell, Taipei

My high school held a school reunion today primarily for those who graduated 30 years ago, also welcoming those who left school 40 or 50 years ago, and others. I was one of the only eight 1975 graduates. Around 250 among all graduated in 1965! A lady who graduated in 1933 attended the reunion!

Love Changes Everything--"缺少愛與引導 他們不是天生使壞要吸毒"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7339/1357928-%E7%BC%BA%E5%B0%91%E6%84%9B%E8%88%87%E5%BC%95%E5%B0%8E-%E4%BB%96%E5%80%91%E4%B8%8D%E6%98%AF%E5%A4%A9%E7%94%9F%E4%BD%BF%E5%A3%9E%E8%A6%81%E5%90%B8%E6%AF%92

缺少愛與引導 他們不是天生使壞要吸毒

2015-12-05 02:11 聯合報 李枝桃／退休校長（南投市）

「一位候選人提出要正視吸毒的問題，他提出要推禪定教育去除吸毒者心癮」我的好友董事長，在我去拜訪他時，問我意見，我說能看到毒害問題很不錯，但如能進一步想想他為何要吸毒？從根本的教育下手，就太好了。

董事長說，那就是你們老師的問題！我告訴董事長「教育不該狹隘的局限學校教育，而忽略了家庭和社會教育…」

My comments: In fact, family education is the most important in building a person's character. A friend of mine told me it was not unitl he met his wife that he started to put himself in others' shoes. He hadn't learned it from his family.

The Changing Role of the ESL Teacher

http://blog.tesol.org/the-changing-role-of-the-esl-teacher/

The Changing Role of the ESL Teacher

Posted on 3 December 2015 by Judie Haynes

This week’s primary education blog is guest authored by Shaeley Santiago, an ESL teacher and instructional coach from Iowa. Shaeley and I first met 4 years ago on #ELLCHAT, a Twitter chat that I comoderate. We have since met up at TESOL and other conferences. I’m sure you’ll learn a lot from her.

---

7 Tricks to Learn Any Language in your Hometown (in One Week)

https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/learn-any-language-in-your-hometown?slc=c396_hometown&utm_source=contentad&utm_medium=DIS&utm_campaign=DIS_CTN_web_cROW_MagEN_ContentAd%20&utm_content=158311

7 Tricks to Learn Any Language in your Hometown (in One Week)

Do you really have to travel to another country to learn the language? The 10-language twins undertook the challenge of learning a language in a week in Berlin, their city of residence. What can we learn from how they learned?

My comments: Does the languages they learn include Manadarin, Japanese, or Korean? I guess not. Besides, what level of fluency and accuracy?

"Take a Classroom Break With GoNoodle"--from TESOL Blog

http://blog.tesol.org/take-a-classroom-break-with-gonoodle/

Take a Classroom Break With GoNoodle

Posted on 24 November 2015 by Tara Arntsen

I recently had the opportunity to ask a group of colleagues what websites, apps, and software they used in the classroom, and a number of them recommended the website GoNoodle. Having never heard of it before, I decided to check it out for myself. For those of you teaching young learners, you will want to, too, as GoNoodle is full of short brain breaks that help kids release energy and focus.

Friends

My friend Annie made this.

On Chinese Writing--"寫作，這樣才能征服閱卷老師…"--from UDN

Although this article is about Chinese writing, all the points mentioned can be applied to English wriitng.

http://udn.com/news/story/6950/1348797-寫作，這樣才能征服閱卷老師…

寫作，這樣才能征服閱卷老師…

2015-12-01 10:37 聯合報 鄭國成／中文講師（花縣壽豐）

學測國文寫作，未來將列為獨立考試，目的在測驗考生邏輯思辨能力，普獲教師、家長、學生贊成，唯求命題、閱卷更加謹慎，因為每年不時出現「題目太難」、「考生自覺成績不如預期」等批評，於是質疑評審「閱卷品質有問題」，歸咎「主觀好惡亂改」。

A Leisurely Afternoon at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park with Junior High Schoolmates

Time: 2pm~8pm

Place: Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Taipei