欣蓉的教學網誌

"Thank Buddha. Thank Dad and Mom"--an Article

The day before yesterday I read an article in the United Daily News. The writer told his friend and his friend’s wife a story of his to remind his friend not to take his wife for granted.

In the story the writer’s son, a high school student, one day ran away from home after being scolded by his parents for cheating on the test in school. The boy got nothing to eat, so finally he had to beg a noodle stand owner to let him eat noodles on credit. Suspecting the boy might have run away from home, the stand owner served him a bowl of noodles for free. After the boy finished his dinner and thanked the owner, the owner told him, “I just treated you to a bowl of noodles and you are so grateful. Your parents have fed you for more than ten years. Have you ever thank them?” Hearing this, the boy had a rude awakening. He went home, and from that day on, he said graces in his own way before each meal, “Thank Buddha. Thank Dad and Mom.”(His mother was a Buddhist.) The writer told his friend that when his son was not home, he would say “Thank Buddha. Thank my wife.” At these words, his friend’s wife gave him a thankful look.

The original version can be found at the following webpage:

http://www.udn.com/2008/11/19/NEWS/LIFE/X1/4606364.shtml

Curiosity

A student in Class 310 asked me this afternoon why I didn’t hold any negative attitude toward studies or tests when I was their age. I told her because I have always been full of curiosity. I just wanted to learn more, not only from the textbooks, my teachers, but from the mistakes I made on the tests.

I remember when I was in high school, I spent a lot of my free time listening to classical music. While I was listening, I would read the score of the music, because I couldn’t just be satisfied with hearing the notes. Out of curiosity, I wanted to "see" how the notes went up and down. That’s me.

Earning Grains of Rice for Hungry People

This evening, I got a mail from Konraad, a friend from the US. He has always been enthusiastic about charitable activities. The following is the mail:

"This is an awesome site:

http://www.freerice.com/

For every vocabulary question you get right, Free Rice will donate 20 grains to rice to hungry people around the world through the United Nations World Food Program. There are different levels and you can even change subjects. Make yourself smarter while helping to feed others.

Pass this along to friends, students and family members.”

I visited the website and answered the questions. Quite interesting. There are even questions about grammar. I earned about 3000 grains of rice for those hungry people around the world in only a few minutes. Worth doing.

Shopping Coupons

To boost economy, our government is going to distribute NT$3,600 worth of shopping coupons to each of the 23 million people next year.

Just imagine people going on a shopping spree and business reviving, and it will bring a smile to your face. I can only show my gratitude by working harder and contributing more to our country.

How would you use the coupons? To buy something you want, to purchase something your family needs, or to give it to people in need?

A Lesson from Someone Who Has a “Not-So-Perfect” Body

"I had the blues because I had no shoes,

Until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet.”

This is a sentence from the article I gave out to Class 313 this morning. After they listened to Unit 6 “Body Imperfect” and we had a discussion about the lesson, I told them that in fact we could learn a lot from people with disabilities. Then I distributed the article, which was from Chapter 15 in Dale Carnegie's book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. The chapter is entitled “Would you take a milion dollars for what you have?”

I had the students read the article silently for about 4 minutes and asked them to tell me what happened in the story. They did a very good job by summarizing the story in only 5 sentences.

The story goes this way. At the beginning of the story, a man who went bankrupt was going to another city to borrow money and try to find a job there. On his way to the city, he felt like “a beaten man” until he came across a man without legs, who greeted him with a big smile. At that moment he suddenly realized how rich he was. He regained his faith, and with the faith he got the loan and a job.

Those two lines appeared at the end of the article. The man pasted the words on his bathroom mirror so that he could read them every morning when he was shaving.

I asked the students to read the two lines aloud, hoping they would cherish what they had and always face their life positively.

Finally I asked them if they would take a million dollars for what they had, for example, their two legs. They answered in unison, “No.”

I love teaching English this way. The language just serves as a tool which links the students to some great minds and beautiful hearts.

The Secret to Losing Weight

According to The Secret, those who want to lose weight should not dwell on the thought “I have to lose weight,” because this would attract more I-have-to-lose-weight thought to them, and thus, they will always have to lose weight. What would really help is to keep thinking about their perfect weight, about how they look with their perfect figures. Then the dream will come true. I like this mindset. Very positive.

When You’re Feeling Down–a Passage from The Secret

Last night before I went to sleep, I re-opened The Secret and read it. Here is a passage from the book that might help lift you up when you are feeling down.

“BOB PROCTOR

When you’re feeling down, did you know that you can change it in an instant? Put on a beautiful piece of music, or start singing–that’ll change your emotion. Or think of something beautiful. Think of a baby or somebody that you truly love, and dwell on it. Really keep that thought in your mind. Block everything out but that thought. I guarantee you’ll start to feel good.” (p. 37)

I remember reading an article in the newspaper long time ago. The article was about a person who was so easy to please. The person started to feel happy the moment he/she opened the eyes in the morning and found he/she was alive. I believe being a happy person, he/she would attract more wonderful things toward him/her the whole day.

Reading Comprehension Exercise from Sanmin

Sanmin emailed me a reading comprehension exercise, with explicit explanations of the words and a Chinese translation. It’s about the recent global economic chaos. Those who are interested in this issue or who would like to test their reading ability may download it.

reading-comprehension-1

A Way to Get the Students to Speak English

When I finish discussing and teaching a paragraph, I usually have the students do the read-look up-and-say activity in pairs. Then I ask them to tell me from their memory the language items they have learned from that paragraph. This is an exciting moment.

To win points for their teams, the students will shout out some meaningful English chunks, for example, be determined to, stick to high standards, compromise on quality, in opposite directions, etc. Of course, learning chunks is not enough. To make them speak a complete sentence, I ask them what they have learned from what they’ve read. Usually, they answer in their own words. To make them learn some good sentences, I can challenge them to shout out from their memory the exact sentences from the text.

How I love to hear students speak English!

An Interesting Letter Written by a Student

The following is a letter written by a student. The writing task requires students to write a letter to someone in the past or in a story.

Dear Big Wolf,

Once upon a time, you ate both the Little Red Riding Hood and her grandma, and got killed by the hunter. In another story, you blew down the two houses of the pig brothers and fell into the hot water boiled the youngest pig. Then in still another tale, you got into the houe of the seven little sheep and ate all of them. But once again, you got punished. The mother sheep put a lot of rocks into your stomach and drowned you.

What happy endings! What tragic stories! You are the symbol of evil, the maker of the darkness. You played the scary roles and have since been the enemy of good people. Children hate you and are glad to read about your death. However, you were simply driven by hunger to do all those bad things. How poor you are, Big Wolf! After being killed by so many people, I wish you not to be a wolf again in your next life. I do understadn your sorrow and wish to do something for you. Maybe I could write a story for you and, this time, have the little Red Riding Hood play the evil role.

Truly yours,
Jack
(314 賴仁傑)