I never realized that writing academic paper can be such a challenge for me. This morning I managed to finish the response paper for TSL 610. I felt great after accomplishing this task. However, I do think I need more training and practise in academic training.
I notice that vocabulary and sentence structure I used in my article are different from the native. I need to work on that more.
4/16/2008
3/05/2008
Go Racers
Racers' Fans
Racers' Girls
The first time I went to watch a basketball game in a stadium. I was overwhelmed. I never realized that games at a university campus could be at such a high level. It was so engaging.
It was on my first weekend at MSU. My friends told me that MSU basketball team is playing against Southeastern Missorui Uni. We got the tickets from the ticket box on Thursday. When we arrived at the stadium on Saturday, it was almost packed with fans. Music band was playing triumphant tones; Cheer leaders were dancing on the floor; Fans were shouting; Banners were moving everywhere--it just could not be more real!
At the beginning of the game, I was sitting on the bench which was on the second stage, far from the pool. I was so excited that I went downstairs directly to the edge of the pool. Then I noticed these guys they had their body colored with G-O R-A-C-E-R-S! I never thought that they were so friendly. When I asked that if they minded my taking picture of them. I was so thrilled that they posed together for me to shoot. There was a guy who standing next to me was wearing a basketball helmet. He explained what the fans were shouting about when I asked about that. I was so much fun to learn their solgans!
3/04/2008
Why do football players wear those painted lines under their eyes?
Have you ever wondered why these handsome football player wear those painted lines under their eyes?- In the 1920's they used certified crazies to play football, and they were given those lines at the nuthouse so if they escaped, people would know they were crazy. Today, it's just done for tradition.
It refracts light away from the pupil on sunny days to help reduce glare and sun blindness, it also helps in the prevention of other players being able to read players eyes for directions of plays or following of motion men, hence the "EYE BLACK"
Football players have black lines painted under their eyesto protect their eyes from the sun when playing indaylight and to protect the eyes from bright lights whenplaying at night.
My first experience of haircut in the US
Before I came to US, my friends have warned me that going to a barber's might be very expensive and unpleasant experience. I doubted if that was the real situation. It was not until when I stepped that shop did I realized that they were not dramatizing the situation there.
I usually have my hair cut once a month because the side hairs grow very fast and i always want to be neat. So several days ago I asked my friend here if he could recommend a barber's here near the university. He suggested his barber. He told me that it is a little more expensive but the barber did a very good job. I decided to go with him because he also need a haircut soon. But here you need to make an appointment with the barber before you go. What's more, they don't work during the weekend. Basically you need to do that during the weekdays. My friend made the appointments for him and me. We went there this afternoon.
The barber shop is in the downtown of Murray. There is a church opposite it. The moment I walked into the shop I realized that I made a wrong decision. First thing I did not like is that the barber is an animal lover. She keeps dogs, cats and pigeons. The room smells. She has her work place in the back of the room--a very tiny place. There's an old mirror on wall and a chair with dirty mat in front of it. The sink in the corner of the room is where you get your hair washed, I think. For one moment I was so uncomfortable about the smell that I told them I would like to go out for a walk while she was working on my friend's haircut.
I walked outside. The street was cold with rain. There was nobody on the street. It was chilly and stores are quiet. It was so quiet that I'm wondering how these business could make a profit here. Anyway, it was cold and wet and I walked along the street for five mins and then I wondered back to the barber's. I was back in the shop for two or three mins then the barber told me that she had done with my friend and it was my turn.
She was friendly when she was doing my hair. She asked where I was from and what I was doing here. She told me her Taiji training and her love of literature. I told her that I like reading The Cather in the Rye and To Kill a Mocking Bird. I think that it only took her 20 mins to finish my haircut, which was quite short if compared with the time the barber spends on my haircut in Beijing. What's more, she even did not wash my hair.
Anyway, this is my first experience of getting a haircut in the US. Next time I will go to a barber shop in Chaintown.
2/28/2008
Outbound to GRE
Feburary 28th, 2008
From today I will read a piece of written news everyday and note down the difficult words in reading and make a list of them in the vocabulary notebook.
China to Reconsider One-Child Limit
By JIM YARDLEY
Published: February 29, 2008
BEIJING — China is studying how to move away from the country's one-child-per-couple restriction, but any changes would come gradually and would not mean an elimination of family planning policies, a senior official said Thursday.
The official, Zhao Baige, vice minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, told reporters at a news conference that government officials recognize that China must alter its current population-control policies.
“We want incrementally to have this change,” Ms. Zhao said, according to Reuters. “I cannot answer at what time or how, but this has become a big issue among decision makers.”
With more than 1.3 billion people, China is the most populous nation and is home to one of the most stringent family planning regimens. Most urban couples are limited to a single child unless they pay hefty fines. Farmers are generally permitted to have a second child if the first is a girl. Minorities are often allowed to have two or more children.
For more than three decades, the restriction on births has been a centerpiece of government economic and social policy. Local officials receive performance ratings based partly on how well residents adhere to the restrictions. In the 1980s, officials routinely forced women to abort fetuses that would have resulted in above-quota births, and both men and women were often forced to undergo sterilization operations.
Enforcement of the policy has softened markedly in recent years, with most areas relying on fines to ensure compliance. But scandals over forced abortions continue to arise periodically. The restrictions also have deepened a severe imbalance in the ratio of boys to girls in the population because many families have used selective abortions to ensure the birth of a son, the traditional preference.
Chinese officials have sought to curb the excesses and abuses and have argued that the one-child restriction has prevented roughly 400 million births and allowed the country to prosper and better live within its resources.
But China's fertility rate is now extremely low, and the population is rapidly aging, especially in urban areas. Experts have warned that China is steadily moving toward a demographic crisis with too many old people in need of expensive services and too few young workers paying taxes to meet those bills. China is often regarded as having a limitless pool of young, cheap labor, but the country's biggest manufacturing centers are already facing labor shortages.
Some of the biggest cities, like Shanghai, have tried to make small tweaks in the policy to spur more births. Nationally, the policy now allows urban couples to have two children if both spouses are from one-child families. But officials have resisted any major policy changes out of fears that a major population boom might follow. In recent months, Chinese officials have pledged to crack down on rich couples that are using their money or influence to disobey the policy.
Ms. Zhao said surveys indicated that a large majority of younger Chinese would like two children. But she warned that current plans call only for studying potential changes and that any adjustments must not lead to a rapid jump in the birthrate.
Ms. Zhao's comments come less than a week before the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, the Communist Party-controlled legislative body. They also come as China is trying to soften its human rights image as Beijing prepares to play host to the Olympics in August.
Difficult words:
1 incrementally
2 stringent
3 regimens
4 hefty
5 tweaks
6 abase
lower; degrade; humiliate; make humble; make (oneself)lose self-respect
7 abash
embarrass
8 abate
subside or moderate abbreviate shorten
9 abdicate renounce; give up (position, right, or responsibility)
10 aberrant abnormal or deviant
11 aberration deviation from the normal; mental disorder
12 abet
assist usually in doing something wrong; encourage
13 abeyance
suspended action
14 abhor detest; hate
15 abject
(of a condition) wretched; as low as possible; lackingpride; very humble; showing lack of self-respect; Ex. abjectapology
16 abjure renounce upon oath
17 ablution washing
18 abnegation renunciation; self-sacrifice; self-abnegation
From today I will read a piece of written news everyday and note down the difficult words in reading and make a list of them in the vocabulary notebook.
China to Reconsider One-Child Limit
By JIM YARDLEY
Published: February 29, 2008
BEIJING — China is studying how to move away from the country's one-child-per-couple restriction, but any changes would come gradually and would not mean an elimination of family planning policies, a senior official said Thursday.
The official, Zhao Baige, vice minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, told reporters at a news conference that government officials recognize that China must alter its current population-control policies.
“We want incrementally to have this change,” Ms. Zhao said, according to Reuters. “I cannot answer at what time or how, but this has become a big issue among decision makers.”
With more than 1.3 billion people, China is the most populous nation and is home to one of the most stringent family planning regimens. Most urban couples are limited to a single child unless they pay hefty fines. Farmers are generally permitted to have a second child if the first is a girl. Minorities are often allowed to have two or more children.
For more than three decades, the restriction on births has been a centerpiece of government economic and social policy. Local officials receive performance ratings based partly on how well residents adhere to the restrictions. In the 1980s, officials routinely forced women to abort fetuses that would have resulted in above-quota births, and both men and women were often forced to undergo sterilization operations.
Enforcement of the policy has softened markedly in recent years, with most areas relying on fines to ensure compliance. But scandals over forced abortions continue to arise periodically. The restrictions also have deepened a severe imbalance in the ratio of boys to girls in the population because many families have used selective abortions to ensure the birth of a son, the traditional preference.
Chinese officials have sought to curb the excesses and abuses and have argued that the one-child restriction has prevented roughly 400 million births and allowed the country to prosper and better live within its resources.
But China's fertility rate is now extremely low, and the population is rapidly aging, especially in urban areas. Experts have warned that China is steadily moving toward a demographic crisis with too many old people in need of expensive services and too few young workers paying taxes to meet those bills. China is often regarded as having a limitless pool of young, cheap labor, but the country's biggest manufacturing centers are already facing labor shortages.
Some of the biggest cities, like Shanghai, have tried to make small tweaks in the policy to spur more births. Nationally, the policy now allows urban couples to have two children if both spouses are from one-child families. But officials have resisted any major policy changes out of fears that a major population boom might follow. In recent months, Chinese officials have pledged to crack down on rich couples that are using their money or influence to disobey the policy.
Ms. Zhao said surveys indicated that a large majority of younger Chinese would like two children. But she warned that current plans call only for studying potential changes and that any adjustments must not lead to a rapid jump in the birthrate.
Ms. Zhao's comments come less than a week before the annual meeting of the National People's Congress, the Communist Party-controlled legislative body. They also come as China is trying to soften its human rights image as Beijing prepares to play host to the Olympics in August.
Difficult words:
1 incrementally
2 stringent
3 regimens
4 hefty
5 tweaks
6 abase
lower; degrade; humiliate; make humble; make (oneself)lose self-respect
7 abash
embarrass
8 abate
subside or moderate abbreviate shorten
9 abdicate renounce; give up (position, right, or responsibility)
10 aberrant abnormal or deviant
11 aberration deviation from the normal; mental disorder
12 abet
assist usually in doing something wrong; encourage
13 abeyance
suspended action
14 abhor detest; hate
15 abject
(of a condition) wretched; as low as possible; lackingpride; very humble; showing lack of self-respect; Ex. abjectapology
16 abjure renounce upon oath
17 ablution washing
18 abnegation renunciation; self-sacrifice; self-abnegation
2/22/2008
Friday night
It's Friday night. We have already been here for a month now. I have never realized that time flies so fast. I guess I need to write more on my blog to keep the record of my life here.
I did not get much things done today. This morning I stayed at home and researched about different universities and the programs in colleges of education. OK. This is my aim: if I'm going to do it, i should choose the biggest one. But right now I need to get prepared for the tests. Columbia, Stanford, Penn, Peaboy are the best choices.
In the evening, we went to the sports stadium and played badminton with some friends. The two Japanese guys and John were not there. Hope I could see John next time.
After that we went to a friend's place and watched the movie Elizabeth: The golden age. It is really good movie. I knew a little bit of it because there is an entry about her in Culture Notes book I was editing. She is such a strong woman. There are some parts in the film which are not exactly following the history. But isn't the discripency that making all the things more interesting? Maybe I should find a book and read about her life sometimes.
2/17/2008
TSL 520 E-presentation #1
I used http://www.google.com/ and the search key words are “CALL EFL lesson plan” and I found this CALL lesson plan.
Basic Information of CALL lesson plan:
Title: Country Comparison Lesson Plan
Author: (The author is not listed on the website.)
Link: http://www.ryter.com/call/lesson.html
A Review of the lesson plan:
This lesson plan is designed for California Community College Level 5 (lower intermediate ESL students with varied language backgrounds. The theme of the lesson is “country comparison,” which practice students on the use of comparatives and superlatives of adjectives while eliciting their language output. According to the lesson plan students are required to write sentences with the information they have collected using comparative and superlatives of adjectives. The lesson plan consists of several parts: audience, material, time, introduction, practice, use and URL for students to use in this lesson.
This lesson plan is designed for California Community College Level 5 (lower intermediate ESL students with varied language backgrounds. The theme of the lesson is “country comparison,” which practice students on the use of comparatives and superlatives of adjectives while eliciting their language output. According to the lesson plan students are required to write sentences with the information they have collected using comparative and superlatives of adjectives. The lesson plan consists of several parts: audience, material, time, introduction, practice, use and URL for students to use in this lesson.
Strengths of the activities:
This is a CALL ESL lesson plan with detailed and easy-to-follow description of instruction steps. The objective of the lesson is clearly presented and activities are carefully designed to reach the aims of this lesson. Students are prepared with preliminary language support before they began the activities.
The lesson plan is also user-friendly. As a CALL lesson, students are provided opportunities to use online information from ABC News Country Profiles website. There are also online grammar recourses with information of comparative and superlatives of adjectives. All these links have URLs, and they are put under the daily class website: http://www.ryter.com/call/class.html.
This is a CALL ESL lesson plan with detailed and easy-to-follow description of instruction steps. The objective of the lesson is clearly presented and activities are carefully designed to reach the aims of this lesson. Students are prepared with preliminary language support before they began the activities.
The lesson plan is also user-friendly. As a CALL lesson, students are provided opportunities to use online information from ABC News Country Profiles website. There are also online grammar recourses with information of comparative and superlatives of adjectives. All these links have URLs, and they are put under the daily class website: http://www.ryter.com/call/class.html.
Weakness of the activities:
However, there are also several places that we could improve the lesson plan.
First, there is not a back-up plan for Internet access problems or electricity problems. An important thing for teachers who use computers in teaching to pay attention to is that they should always be prepared for these situations.
Second, more explanations should be included to tell teacher how to organize students work in groups. According to the lesson plan, students are supposed to work in groups of three and they fill in their table and ask their classmates questions to fill their table. But if they all read the website they have the opportunities to read the information of all countries listed on the website, then the activities would work since they don’t have to interact with each other to get the information. Therefore, there should be more explanation on how students should be this activity.
Third, there might be difficulties when students compare certain countries with their own country because there are emotional aspects involved. Therefore, it might be interesting if in the lesson plan students are asked to analyze what they read on the website to see if the information about their countries are correctly presented. If there is any information presented improperly, they could write to the editors of the website to ask the correction of the information.
However, there are also several places that we could improve the lesson plan.
First, there is not a back-up plan for Internet access problems or electricity problems. An important thing for teachers who use computers in teaching to pay attention to is that they should always be prepared for these situations.
Second, more explanations should be included to tell teacher how to organize students work in groups. According to the lesson plan, students are supposed to work in groups of three and they fill in their table and ask their classmates questions to fill their table. But if they all read the website they have the opportunities to read the information of all countries listed on the website, then the activities would work since they don’t have to interact with each other to get the information. Therefore, there should be more explanation on how students should be this activity.
Third, there might be difficulties when students compare certain countries with their own country because there are emotional aspects involved. Therefore, it might be interesting if in the lesson plan students are asked to analyze what they read on the website to see if the information about their countries are correctly presented. If there is any information presented improperly, they could write to the editors of the website to ask the correction of the information.
The way I might use the activities for my students:
I might adapt the lesson plan and design a task for them to do at the end of the lesson. The task asks students to check if there is any incorrect information on the website and then they should write to the website editor about that. Students could be highly motivated to do this kind of tasks.
I might adapt the lesson plan and design a task for them to do at the end of the lesson. The task asks students to check if there is any incorrect information on the website and then they should write to the website editor about that. Students could be highly motivated to do this kind of tasks.
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