What Book Would You Be in a Human Library?

At our 3/28 gathering, I mentioned the human library and also asked Vicky if she were a "book" in a human library, what book she would be. Before she answered my question, I told her what I would be: People could borrow and "read" me as a grammar book. Hearing this, Vicky laughed and said, "Well, I think you could also be a life book, guiding the users to positive thinking and happiness. I was glad about it.

Students observe, and they know what kind of person you are.

It Is Love That Works--"「那種有問題的小孩，不要跟我的孩子同班」孩子的人格扭曲，你我也曾經是幫凶？"--from Business Weekly

http://www.businessweekly.com.tw/KBlogArticle.aspx?ID=16095&path=f

「那種有問題的小孩，不要跟我的孩子同班」孩子的人格扭曲，你我也曾經是幫凶？

撰文者一下迷路一下爆走

天下所有父母都盼著孩子成龍成鳳，特別是亞洲社會，幾乎傾全力關切著孩子的成績表現，似乎分數的成果就代表「教育的一切」，往往忽略了人性面、心靈面與社會關懷面的教導，不在乎孩子善不善良，愛不愛人，只在乎數學考幾分？英文考幾分？學測基測考幾分？

My comments: In his speech years ago, Mr. Cheng, Shih-yan (鄭石岩) said that the most important things to teach kids are being kind and being happy. He didn't mention success at all.

Hi or Dear? English for Email--"寫email，何時該用Hi、何時該用Dear開頭？"--from BusinessWeekly

http://www.businessweekly.com.tw/KBlogArticle.aspx?id=16039

寫email，何時該用Hi、何時該用Dear開頭？

撰文者世界公民文化中心

學生反應自己的語感不好，寫email常陷入兩難，擔心自己的email寫得不夠正式，老闆或客戶會覺得他不專業；有時又怕太正式，感覺和同事距離很遠，不該見外的事顯得見外。

其實正式和非正式比語感來得單純，在慢慢培養語感之前，先抓到幾個關鍵，搭配這裡幫同學整理的對照表，一點都不需要擔心太正式或不夠正式的問題：

A Time for Us

Time: 11:30am~3pm, Apr. 6, 2016

Place: New hama, Taipei

Participants: Mr. Lin (林煇校長), Meihua (許玫華老師), and me

Everyone Does His Best--"周行一／易子而教"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7340/1608541-%E5%91%A8%E8%A1%8C%E4%B8%80%EF%BC%8F%E6%98%93%E5%AD%90%E8%80%8C%E6%95%99

周行一／易子而教

2016-04-05 01:30 聯合報 周行一

兩個小孩念中學時，我都曾經自告奮勇教他們功課，兒子說：「爸爸你不會教」，女兒說：「我的功課很難喔，你不會的」。就像別的父母一樣，怕兒女成績不好，我們讓兩個小孩大量補習，英、數、物理、化學都免不了。其中先後教他們的數學補習老師最被小孩稱道，他們兩個都認為這個老師很「神」。其實我的學術還可以，但別的老師似乎才可以得到我小孩的認同，看來古訓「易子而教」是很有道理的。

Zhangshu Hiking Trail at Maokong, Flowers, and Me

Time: 2:40pm~4:10pm

Place: Zhangshu Hiking Trail at Maokong (貓空樟樹步道)

Teaching Writing to Young Learners: 10 Online Resources

http://blog.tesol.org/teaching-writing-to-young-learners-10-online-resources/#more-7798

Teaching Writing to Young Learners: 10 Online Resources

Posted on 1 April 2016 by Elena Shvidko

Today I will share a few websites that contain helpful resources and materials for teaching writing to young learners.

1. Creative Writing Teacher Resources

This collection of printables, graphic organizers, lesson plans, and activities helps teachers to build learner’ creative writing skills. The resources include poetry writing activities, journal topics, art projects, short-story writing exercises, scoring rubrics, and other printable worksheets.

Gathering with Diego

Time: 6pm~10pm, April 2, 2016

Place: VaPiano, Taipei

At each gathering, I can feel the eagerness of learning in Diego. This evening, he told me he is used to acquiring knowledge online. What amazes me is not only the width of his knowledge, but the depth. If you read the commentaries he posted on his FB page, you know what I mean.

Trip to Yilan with Junior High Schoolmates

Time: 11am (arrived at Yilan) ~ 5pm

Place: Yilan

Participants: 高儷綾, 唐銑, 陳俊智, 張同科, 杜欽榮, 蕭瑞陞, 淑華, 連莉霞, 許啟育, 周毓彥, and me

Free Books for Your Classroom 3: Storynory

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/153c27a12756db99

Free Books for Your Classroom 3: Storynory

Posted on 29 March 2016 by Tara Arntsen

Despite the fact that many educators have access to a wide selection of books from school and public libraries, it can still be challenging to choose the “right” ones and keep students supplied with material they are interested in. For contexts with limited resources, these struggles are even more pronounced. Luckily, there are many free online resources available, such as Storynory, that vastly increase the amount of material with which students can engage.

My comments: I love stories. They do not preach explicitly, but they are thought-provoking.

To visit Storynory, please click http://www.storynory.com/

Love Changes Everything. Let's Hug!--"一個擁抱 點亮心中的愛"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7339/1596677-%E5%85%A7%E6%B9%96%E6%AE%BA%E7%AB%A5%E6%A1%88%EF%BC%8F%E4%B8%80%E5%80%8B%E6%93%81%E6%8A%B1-%E9%BB%9E%E4%BA%AE%E5%BF%83%E4%B8%AD%E7%9A%84%E6%84%9B

內湖殺童案／一個擁抱 點亮心中的愛

2016-03-30 02:02 聯合報 呂健吉／華梵大學哲學系主任（新北市）

北市殺童事件震驚全國，為人父母者無不同感傷痛，何以至此，細聽女童母親在臉書的哭訴：請抱抱你們身邊最親愛的家人，就是對我們最大的安慰與關心。聽聞此言更令人無比心疼此位偉大的母親。

My comments: Everything starts with family.

此時此刻，無須多說，就給周邊的人一個深情的擁抱吧！

After the Tragedy

I was sad about yesterday's tragic event in Neihu. In fact, I still cannot believe it happened. At which point in life did the killer go wrong? Family? School? Friends? Many people are talking about death penalty, but would it scare those who use drugs or who are mentally sick or violent people away from harming others?  Love and care are what our society really need.

Could it be possible that every school offers a Love Course, just as done by the teacher in "The Girl in the Fifth Row," a true story in Chicken Soup for the Teacher's Soul, which I had always shared with my students since I read it for the first time? To read it, please visit  http://www.midnightangel308.com/girl_in_the_fifth_row_the.htm

Nice Gathering with Vicky

Time: 2:30pm~8:30pm

Place: Moon River Cafe, Neihu

This afternoon, Vicky and I chatted non-stop for around 6 hours.  We talked about linguistics, literature, relationships, education, English teaching, life, etc.

"Eight Holiday Do's and Don'ts"

This article offers ways to have a happy holiday.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/eight-holiday-dos-and-donts.pageCd-storyboard,pageNum-9.html#slideshow

Eight Holiday Do's and Don'ts

Interpretation--"口譯這一行"_from the China Times

http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20160326000887-260116

書文化－口譯這一行 2016年03月26日 04:10 中國時報

吳敏嘉（台大外文系助理教授，國際會議口譯員協會會員）

歷屆大陸領導人出席國際會議時，貼身的翻譯人員總會引起廣泛關注；台灣總統當選人蔡英文在國際記者會上發表勝選感言時，即席翻譯的「口譯哥」也引起眾多討論。近日書市陸續推出兩本口譯相關書籍，本刊邀請國內資深口譯員吳敏嘉現身說法，與讀者分享這個行業的辛勞與魅力。 台大翻譯學程碩士班3年前成立至今，一直是文學院報考人數最多、最難考的研究所。報考的學生來自四面八方，大家有志一同，決心花2至4年的時間接受翻譯所著名的魔鬼訓練，希望成為專業口譯員。

My comments: I learned from a book years ago on what it is like to be an interpreter by Chang, Chieh-ying. It is tough! The author Mr. Chang described the training at Fu-jen University as an ordeal.

To Teach in English, Or Not?--"政大強制英語授課 教師會槓上校長" & "英文授課就是國際化？ 台大教授：本末倒置"

What do you think of this issue?

http://udn.com/news/story/6928/1583991-%E6%94%BF%E5%A4%A7%E5%BC%B7%E5%88%B6%E8%8B%B1%E8%AA%9E%E6%8E%88%E8%AA%B2-%E6%95%99%E5%B8%AB%E6%9C%83%E6%A7%93%E4%B8%8A%E6%A0%A1%E9%95%B7

政大強制英語授課 教師會槓上校長

2016-03-24 07:52 聯合報 記者洪欣慈／台北報導

教師會批「強制英語授課條款」違法、凌駕學術自治

政大校方今年初發出公文，要求新進教師需授英語課程，引發校內反彈，政大教師會發起連署公開反對，前晚給校長周行一的公開信，要求廢止違法且凌駕學術自治的「強制英語授課條款」，截至昨天為止，已有近五十位政大教師連署力挺。

Essential Academic Writing Examples and Phrases!

A good website for English writing, introduced by a teacher group on my FB page.

http://www.myenglishteacher.eu/blog/academic-writing-examples-and-phrases/

Essential Academic Writing Examples and Phrases!

To Be Or Not To Be, That Is the Question

A relative of mine chose to go to hospice. She refused any treatment for her cancer. Seeing her suffer, we all don't know what to do except respecting her choice. However, knowing what staying in hospice means, we just can't feel happy for her. She LINEd her sister in the States to say goodbye. All her sister could do was sigh.

About Blogging

I read an article about blogging in a magazine the other day and was surprised to find that the writer didn't think 100% of a blog should be something written by the blogger. Sharing something the blogger has read with its readers should account for 50%.

Stay Young--"藏老有訣竅…你訓練「快樂肌肉」了嗎"--from UDN

http://udn.com/news/story/7266/1575331-%E8%97%8F%E8%80%81%E6%9C%89%E8%A8%A3%E7%AB%85%E2%80%A6%E4%BD%A0%E8%A8%93%E7%B7%B4%E3%80%8C%E5%BF%AB%E6%A8%82%E8%82%8C%E8%82%89%E3%80%8D%E4%BA%86%E5%97%8E

藏老有訣竅…你訓練「快樂肌肉」了嗎

2016-03-20 01:49 聯合報 記者江慧珺／台北報導

現代人活得久不稀奇，活得美麗健康不顯老才是王道。整形外科醫師林靜芸認為，樂活不只是忘齡，更要過「無齡」生活，穿著、飲食都不必自我設限，笑口常開可訓練「快樂肌肉」、遠離皺紋，睡眠充足並保持正面思考，是藏老祕訣。