She Cares

I was quite happy when Hsin-yu (張昕妤), a student in Class 314, called me in the evening and talked to me in English to fulfill the oral-test requirement. Although she failed to meet the deadline, which was yesterday, at least she cared about what she was required to do.

Chatting in English

Today is the last day of this semester. To fulfill one of the course requirements, many students came to talk to me. They either answered my questions based on "You've Got to Find What You Love" or read aloud the poem "O, Romeo, Romeo, why are you Romeo?" When asked whether they would have the guts to quit school if they found what they learned in college did not interest them, quite a few students said they would stay in school rather than drop out because they need the diploma.

Haiti Earthquake

A magnitude-7.0 earthquake hit Haiti and killed thousands of people. What do the survivors need? Everything! Let's pray for them and give them a helping hand.

Click on the link and read about the devastating earthquake.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-01-13-Haiti-main_N.htm

Follow Your Heart

Gina and Howard, two 314 students who graduated last year paid me a visit this afternoon. Gina, a Chinese major at NTNU, suggested that I tell my students to choose what they really love as their majors because they then can enjoy their life every day. Gina loves English. She told me if she majored in English now, she would be happier.

Blog Allows Them to Join My Past

This morning when I told Class 209 that those who are going to take the 2nd stage of GEPT, which is held in March and contains speaking and writing tests, can consult the English writing category in my blog duting the winter vacation, I felt very happy that I kept the blog. With the blog, my current students can join my past. If I hadn't, I would not have anything left for them to read now. Besides, with all the materials kept in the cyberspace, my students can have easy access to them anytime anywhere. If I give them handouts, they might either lose or don't need them. After more than two years of keeping blog, I still enjoy it.

The 31 Places to Go in 2010--from The New York Times

The New York Times listed 31 places to go in 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/travel/10places.html

I don't know what the criteria are. There are a lot of new names to me. Among the 31 places, I've only been to Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

A Mystery

Something mysterious has happened recently. I remember sending photos of Class 209 to their homeroom teacher some day after Christmas. Last week on my way out of the office to my class, I asked her if she had got the mail . Then she asnwered that she, at that time in front of the computer, was about to check. Yesterday, she told me she couldn't find the mail, suspecting she might have deleted it accidentally, and asked if I could resend it. "Of course," I said, "I can forward the mail from SENT MAIL right away." However, when I checked SENT MAIL on the gmail, I couldn't find the mail! I checked again and again, incredulously.

Persistence

I was touched by the inspiration Mr. Chu gave the students.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=230367

朱學恒談堅持 建中人鼓掌2分鐘    2010/01/8

【聯合報╱記者邱瓊玉／台北報導】

DVDs on Character Building & Living with Other People in Mind

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=230383

心中有別人 品德DVD受好評

【聯合報╱記者陳智華／台北報導】 2010/01/09

Yes, They Can

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=11&f_SUB_ID=270&f_ART_ID=230117

黃政雄用寬容 給孩子探索的勇氣

【聯合報╱記者祁容玉】2010/01/08

Why I Kept the Blog

This morning, Meng-fang (蔡孟芳老師), a colleague and friend of mine, told me she read my blog yesterday for the first time and was touched. She read it until midnight, one entry after another. Her words made my day. When she asked how she could email someone the entries on "If I Were a Freshman Again," I thought to myself, "Yes, that's one of the reasons I kept the blog for."

Tips on Preparation for the UEE English Test (UDN)

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=229903

學測衝刺英文／練習考古題 熟悉時事單字

【聯合報╱本報記者 薛荷玉】2010/01/07

Tips on SAT English Composition Writing

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=229692

學測考前總複習－英文作文的五不五要

【聯合報╱本報訊】 2010/01/06

Tips on SAT Chinese Composition Writing (Part 2/2)

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=229495

學測考前總複習 有關學測作文10點叮嚀(二)

【聯合報╱本報訊】2010/01/05

Tips on English Learning from Two Successful Examinees in GEPT Advanced Level

The following news report is about two students who has recently passed the GEPT Advanced Level. 

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=229081

劉富蘭克林 通過英檢高級

【聯合報╱記者謝恩得／嘉義縣報導】  2010/01/01

Tips on SAT Chinese Composition Writing (Part 1/2)

The following is an article offering some tips on SAT Chinese composition writing. Though my current students won't take the SAT until 2011, this article is still worth their while to read. After all, they are often asked to write composition in Chinese class.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=229320

學測考前總複習 有關學測作文的10點叮嚀

【聯合報╱本報訊】 2010/1/4

For Midnight Oil Burners

This article from BBC is for those who are used to burning the midnight oil.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8435955.stm

If you find the article too long, please read the following summary, which is from somewhere online. Sorry that I can't find its URL.  It was saved in my computer yesterday.

Teen depression 'linked to sleep'

How to Pronounce the Year 2010

Upon booting the computer this afternoon, I saw the following message on Yahoo!. That reminded me that last week when a student paused in her sentence, not knowing how to say "2010," I told her either "twenty ten" or "two thousand and ten" was OK. In fact, the first thing came to my mind was "twenty ten."

http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/100102/8/1y2wh.html

2010英文怎麼說？　習慣順口即可

更新日期:2010/01/02 12:16 趙元穎

New Year's Day Photos Taken Around the World--BBC

Click on the link and you can see 16 photos taken on New Year's Day around the world. Sit back and enjoy the festive atmosphere.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8436989.stm

Reflection on the First Day of 2010 & the Movie Avatar

Today is the first day of 2010. I still remember a decade ago when waking up and finding the Y2K bug was not around, how relieved we all were! Time flies! Ten years have passed since then. During the decade, the worst nightmares might have been the global economic crisis triggered by America's subprime mortgage and some natural calamities. However, it seems the nightmares have gone far. Truly, everything will be all right.