元智新生營 7天補救「菜英文」

http://udn.com/news/story/6928/1162671

元智新生營 7天補救「菜英文」

2015-09-03 07:20:08      聯合報 記者馮靖惠／台北報導

元智大學為引導大一新生順利銜接大學英語教育，昨起舉辦為期一周的新生英語營，新生必須使用英語學習、對話，提早適應校內雙語環境。

元智大學國際語言文化中心主任柯宜中表示，連續7天的英語營，讓新生像集訓一樣，接受全英語上課及生活訓練。英語研習營可以啟發新生主動學習英語的動力，並加以活用。配合趣味遊戲及與外籍生互動，達到英語能力提升和文化交流的目的，對於日後的英語學習有暖身效果。

My comments: What matters most is that students use the language.

Flipped Classroom--"學生討論老師聽 國小生變愛上課"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/6901/1162664-學生討論老師聽-國小生變愛上課

學生討論老師聽 國小生變愛上課

2015-09-03 07:38:03      聯合報 記者沈育如／台北報導

「廣大興事件，為何造成台灣與菲律賓的衝突？」台南市永康國小的社會課，老師姜宏尚丟出問題，台下學生每4人分小組，七嘴八舌熱烈討論，再派代表上台回答問題。這種打破傳統「老師講，學生聽」的教學方式，讓學生成為課堂主人，學習更主動。

Flipping the Teacher--"翻轉教學 難在師長改變觀念"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/6901/1162666

翻轉教學 難在師長改變觀念

2015-09-03 07:44:58      聯合報 記者沈育如／台北報導

由日本教授佐藤學推動的學習共同體，打破傳統「老師台上講課，學生台下聽講」的教學模式。台南市去年12月開始試辦，台南市教育產業工會理事長、賢北國小老師侯俊良表示，推動最大困難，在於老師與家長的觀念改變，不過學生「上課有事做」，對學習興趣大為提高，成績也有明顯進步。

My comments: I believe teachers can decide the learning environment in the classroom. The teacher is the soul of education.

Flowers Blooming Only at Night

This photo and the following two were taken last night around 9:30 when I was taking a walk at Pihu. The flowers are called Small-leaved Barringtonia (穗花棋盤腳). They reminded me of a sentence I texted a student who felt down because she was only on the waiting list for admission to National Central University: "All flowers bloom, but not at the same time, in the same way." The words did lift her spirits, as she said. What's better, she got admitted eventually.

5 Icebreakers for English Interaction

http://blog.tesol.org/5-icebreakers-for-english-interaction/

5 Icebreakers for English Interaction

Posted on 24 August 2015 by Kristen Lindahl

In the United States, it’s that time of year again, when students and teachers excitedly (reluctantly?) return to the classroom after summer vacation. First and foremost, you’ll want to get your students talking to you and to each other!

"Taiwan's ETC system wins 2015 ITS World Congress Industry Award"

This morning, when reading the newspaper, I was attracted by the heading "十年磨一劍 交部：最難的是堅持."

(See http://udn.com/news/story/7314/1158364-ETC%E3%80%8C%E9%A9%9A%E8%B1%94%E5%85%A8%E7%90%83%E3%80%8D-%E5%9C%8B%E9%9A%9B%E7%8D%B2%E7%8D%8E )

On the same page was the good news about Taiwan's ETC got recogition from IBTTA and won an award. For people in Taiwan, this is a national pride.

(See http://udn.com/news/story/7314/1158328-台灣之光-ETC獲收費公路奧斯卡)

The following is the same news story reported in English.

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201508190037.aspx

Taiwan's ETC system wins 2015 ITS World Congress Industry Award

The Rainbow in Grandma's Eyes--"廖玉蕙／阿嬤的眼睛裡有彩虹"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7340/1154673-廖玉蕙／阿嬤的眼睛裡有彩虹

廖玉蕙／阿嬤的眼睛裡有彩虹

2015-08-30 02:31:18      聯合報 廖玉蕙（語文教育學者及散文作家）

二○一○年九月起，政府宣布每年八月的第四個星期天為祖父母節。這在老年人口驟增的時代，格外具有意義。

My comments: So this year, Grandparents' Day fell on August 23. Though a little late, I still wish all the grandparents a happy grandparents day.

 

301 Class Reunion

Time: 18:00, Aug. 30, 2015

Place: CaLACaLA

Class 301 was one of the three senior classes I taught in my last teaching year. These science majors graduated from NHSH in 2012, and now they are going on to their senior year in college in the coming fall. This evening, besides their "good funny days," our talk revolved around what they are going to do after college. Unlike seniors in high school who all have the same goal: To pass the college entrance exam(s) and go to a good college, seniors in college have diverse options. Many may feel like facing the crossroads in life, not knowing exactly what they really want. However, thinking of their upperclassmen who graduated long before them and are now around 32 years old, I don't worry about these students. I know whatever will be will be. What they can do is seize the day, work their best, and catch what life throws at them.

Another Gathering with Students

Mengzhe LINEd me the other day asking for a meet-up this weekend. He said he'd like to ask me some questions about going abroad for further studies. He invited his good friend Chungtze to join us.

Taiwan Students' Performance on 2014 TOEIC Speaking and Writing Tests --"多益說寫成績 台灣勝日韓"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/6904/1150262-%E5%A4%9A%E7%9B%8A%E8%AA%AA%E5%AF%AB%E6%88%90%E7%B8%BE-%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E5%8B%9D%E6%97%A5%E9%9F%93

多益說寫成績 台灣勝日韓

2015-08-28 08:16:24      聯合報 記者沈育如／台北報導

想要成為國際移動人才，語言是必要條件之一。根據ETS首度公布多為職場使用的多益口說與寫作測驗成績，台灣2014年口說平均分數134分，寫作147分，均較同年的日本、韓國成績均高，表現不俗。

Visit of Guangren

Guangren (彭光仁), a student I taught at Cheihshow Junior High School around 33 years ago, paid me a visit this late afternoon. He was 13 when I taught him, and now he is 46!

On Teachers' Working Hours--"把教育當志業 怎有工時問題"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7339/1148448-%E6%8A%8A%E6%95%99%E8%82%B2%E7%95%B6%E5%BF%97%E6%A5%AD-%E6%80%8E%E6%9C%89%E5%B7%A5%E6%99%82%E5%95%8F%E9%A1%8C

把教育當志業 怎有工時問題

2015-08-27 01:45:13      聯合報 馬惠娣／教育工作者（南投市）

最近教育現場最流行的話題就是「教師每日工時八小時，寒暑假到校兩天」，一位家長憤憤不平說：「老師要享勞工的權益，又要享受教師的福利，卻排除『與教學無關的工作』，還強調沒參加工會的老師不能享有協商條例，老師的尊嚴都不見了。」

My comments: This is not true. When I taught, Ususally, I got to school around 7:30am, left school around 6-6:30pm. After dinner, having finished housework, I went to my study and went on with my job, reading students' homework and preparing lessons for the next day, which included designing classroom activities, searching for supplementary materials, such as videos and articles, related to the lesson. I often worked until 11-11:30pm.

Jack, Happy Seeing You Again, and Good Luck!

Had an afternoon tea with Jack, a former student who graduated from NHSH in 2009. Last Thursday, he asked if I could go over his motivation letter for applying to a language school in Germany, though having a deadline to meet, I still did it promptly and offered him some revision suggestions. This afternoon, I read the revised letter and also gave him a mock interview in English. He's going to have the interview with someone from German Institute Taipei tomorrow.

"Relatively Speaking: 5 Strategies for Teaching Relative Clauses" (關係子句教學策略)--from Busy Teacher

When it comes to English grammar, relative clauses are nightmares to many learners. The modifying structure is totally different from that in Mandarin. In Mandarin, we put the modifying clause in front of the modified noun while in English, it follows the noun. A former colleague once told me when seeing her students' confused looks, she spent one hour re-teaching her senior class this grammar point, which was supposed to have been learned in 9th grade.

However, I find this grammar point intriguing and always had fun when teaching it. The following webpage deals with ways to teach relative clauses. A good reference.

http://busyteacher.org/18247-how-to-teach-relative-clauses-5-strategies.html

Relatively Speaking: 5 Strategies for Teaching Relative Clauses

"The 21 greatest graduation speeches of the last 50 years"--from Vox

I love to watch/listen to graduation speeches. A graduation speech is always spoken from the speaker's heart based on his/her precious lifetime experience. In my last year of teaching, I used excerpts of four such speeches in a final exam I wrote for high school seniors.

Vox presented the 21 best graduation speeches of the last 50 years. I don't know what the criteria are. However, it seems to have missed J.K. Rowling's at Harvard Commencement and Amazon founder & CEO Jeff Bezos's at Princeton University.

A Gathering with Mr. Wu, Former NHSH Principal

Mr. Wu, former NHSH principal, retired this past summer. Ms. Lai organized a dinner gathering for him and some retired teachers. Though retired from public school, Mr. Wu serves now at Taipei Kuei Shan School as principal. His second career. Knowing he enjoys the work very much, we were all happy for him.

 

Best Books of the Month_Amazon

Surfing the Net for some information, I came across this Amazon page entitled "Best Books of the Month." A good reference for those who are looking for books to feed their mind and/or heart.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Books-of-the-Month/b/ref=amb_link_431577422_3?ie=UTF8&node=390919011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=hero-quick-promo-books-atf&pf_rd_r=1QDK02TR886YF1YP6Z50&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=2069529942&pf_rd_i=0143038419

The following are books listed on this page. For further information of each book, please click the above link and check it out.

"Literature in ELT: Who’s Afraid of Literature?"--TESOL Bolg

http://blog.tesol.org/literature-in-elt-whos-afraid-of-literature/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

Literature in ELT: Who’s Afraid of Literature?

Posted on 19 August 2015 by Guest Author   Sybil Marcus

I admit it—I’m passionate about using literature, especially short stories, for language learning. As I result, I take every opportunity to talk about this to teachers of intermediate to advanced-level ELLs. In a nutshell, I think literature is a great teaching tool for these reasons:

• It’s an opportunity to teach language skills in an authentic context.


• It’s a chance to practice critical thinking skills.


• It introduces a diverse array of social and cross-cultural topics.


• It gives rise to energetic class discussions.

4T in Flipped Classroom--"翻轉教室始祖 來台傳「4T」心法"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7314/1120760-%E7%BF%BB%E8%BD%89%E6%95%99%E5%AE%A4%E5%A7%8B%E7%A5%96-%E4%BE%86%E5%8F%B0%E5%82%B3%E3%80%8C4T%E3%80%8D%E5%BF%83%E6%B3%95

翻轉教室始祖 來台傳「4T」心法

2015-08-14 03:27:22      聯合報 記者林秀姿／台北報導

「翻轉教室」在台灣喊得震天價響，但到底什麼才是「翻轉」？讓學生玩遊戲學數學就是翻轉嗎？翻轉教室創始人強納森柏格曼（Jonathan Bergmann）首度來台現身說法，提出翻轉四Ｔ：Thinking（思想）、Training（訓練）、Time（時間）、Technology（科技），老師必須突破這四大要素才能完成翻轉。

My comments: Want to know more about Johnthan Bergmann and flipped classroom? Please read:

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

Stop and Smell the Roses with Mei-chu

Though I'm retired, my life is still kind of hectic. So today, with Mei-chu, a high school classmate, I escaped to the embrace of nature. Also, by inviting Mei-chu to lunch, I showed my gratitude to her for taking Ms. Lin, my high school teacher, home by taxi after my son's wedding banquet on May 30. We chatted over lunch and took photos.