奇怪的wordpress

為什麼top post不work on old articles?

test

test

Reading for reading purpose

Yesterday noon, I had lunch with Angel, Anna, and Mei-yun. We talked about some reading activities. The following are some:

1. Let junior students choose one article they like to read every week and they write their afterthought/reflection in Chinese.

2. Give students the same article to read. The next day they have to take a 5-minute open-book quiz. The quiz contains some reading comprehension questions and vocabulary items.

3. Students get the same article. They are divided into several groups. Each group has to translate a part of the article into Chinese. Then the translations will be put up on the bulletin board. Finally the students take a quiz on the article.

Though these activities are used to ensure most students will read, I still have a dream that one day all students read for pleasure, out of their own will, but not for the test.

Tips on how to prepare for the math test on the UEE

At this webpage, you can find suggestions from a senior high school teacher on how to prepare for the math test on the UEE.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=12&f_SUB_ID=31&f_ART_ID=131059

Tips on how to prepare for the UEE

Here at the United Daily News website, you can find some tips on preparing for the UEE, including some for the English test on the UEE.

http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_MAIN_ID=12&f_SUB_ID=29&f_ART_ID=130839

An article on learning English

I came across this article on the Net. It offers some good tips from NTU Prof. Hsi (奚永慧) on English learning, including some on taking the English test on the UEE.

http://www.youthwant.com.tw/column/index.php?d=0306231

To Tracy

Dear Tracy,

Thank you for your feedback. In fact, I believe you will be a very conscientious teacher because of your concern about what is really good for your students. You care.

I care, too.

This afternoon, I had an unexpected visitor–Ken, the guy I mentioned to you. He not only knows you but still remembers you as a student with very good English ability. He even knows you are studying at NTNU.

At dinner, I told him that what moved me most in teaching English was not that my student got a 100 on the test, but that my students read English novels or magazines out of their own will. Take the four 303 students for example. In their third year, Wei-chen tried reading Economist, Diego Fortune, Chao-lung Time, and Hsiuen-ann Reader's Digest. That really touched me. I believe that is what learning English is about: Use it as a tool to get information or just enjoy reading whatever is in English.

I don't mean vocabulary and grammar are not important. In fact, they are the basics. However, we shouldn't spend too much time on them or just stop there. They must learn to read through reading. I remember once a teacher from Studio Classroom said in her speech, "The only way to expand one's vocabulary is through reading." She did not say "The best way," but "The only way."

Thank you for discussing this interesting issue with me. Keep your faith.

Reading, vocabulary, or grammar?

This evening I had a talk with a practice-teacher-to-be. She told me that usually students expect their English teacher to supply them with a lot of vocabulary words and analyze the text sentence by sentence, focusing on the sentence pattern, instead of discussing the content of a reading text. I told her that students in Taiwan are conditioned by cram school, where they are crammed with lots of new words and phrases.

I remember the experience of the girl living next to me. When she was studying in college in the USA, for the first few months, she couldn't accustom herself to the way the American teacher taught reading. She had expected the teacher would do as the English teacher in Taiwan did–analyzing sentences and giving a lot more information about each new word. However, the teacher just discussed the content of the text with the students, asking their opinions about some points in the text. My neighbor even complained to her mother that the teacher was not teaching at all. Hearing her mother talk about her "suffering," I told her mother that was a right way to teach reading.

大學指考英文作文必看：為什麼要寫主題句？ Why topic sentence?

寫英文作文時，每段的主題句是很重要的，最好第一句就是主題句，使讀者一目了然，知道這一段的主旨。不妨比較以下兩個小段落：

題目要求學生在這段落中敘述早餐對於個人的影響。

1.

If I don't have breakfast, I will be so hungry that I can't concentrate in class. What's worse, I will feel too dizzy to move. Therefore, I always have breakfast before going to school.

2.

A morning without breakfast will be a disaster for me. If I don't have breakfast, I will be so hungry that I can't concentrate in class. What's worse, I will feel too dizzy to move. Therefore, I always have breakfast before going to school.

第二個例子的主題句使這一段落產生了凝聚力。第一例缺少主題句，顯得零散。這一段的主題句也可寫成A good breakfast sustains me all morning.

再舉兩個例子：

題目：請寫一篇文章，第一段敘述如果你能夠精通一種外語(例如English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Arabian, Russian, German等等），你會作何選擇，並請你說明原因。第一段主題句為If I can master one foreign language, it will be…。第二段描述你會怎麼運用這樣的語言能力來改變你的生活或這個世界。（96學年度第二學期第三次北模)

這裡僅舉某位同學的第二段為例（因為第一段主題句已由題目限定了）。第二個例子是這位同學寫的，第一個例子只是用來作為參照：

1

…

Since English is a basic requirement when one applies for almost every job, I can have more job opportunities than others. In addition, I can understand the instructions written on imported products and use them in a proper and safe way. Most important of all, I can travel all around the world without language barriers. To sum up, mastering English will surely make my life smoother.

2.

…

With a good command of English, I can remove many obstacles in my life. To begin with, since English is a basic requirement when one applies for almost eveyr job, I can have more opportunities than others. In addition, I can understand the instructions written on imported products and use them in a proper and safe way. Most important of all, I can travel all around the world without language barriers. To sum up, mastering English will surely make my life smoother. (316謝羽書)

有了主題句，架構是否變清楚了？讀者一看就知道這段的主旨。有了主題句，馬上增加一、兩分。

BTW, 這位同學的結論句(…make my life smoother)呼應主題句(…remove many obstacles in my life.)，非常好。而且用來說明主題句的文章主體利用了To begin with, in addition, most important of all這些連貫詞讓文章的論點環環相扣，可以說是組織嚴謹的一個段落，值得參考。

P.S. I love blog. With it, I can still present something to my students even though I couldn't go to school today due to a bad cold.

This is what "laugh to one's heart's content" mean

This is a photo taken before the water balloon war. In the photo, the students are laughing to their hearts' content.