- Nov 24 Sat 2007 14:59
University Life: the Freshman Year 2
- Nov 23 Fri 2007 03:40
Happy American Thanksgiving to You!
Happy Thanksgiving to all friends new and old who are in or from the U.S. of A.!
American Thanksgiving is always the day that all Christmas decorations or sales would come on in full gear. On my way to school this morning, the radio was finally blasting with Christmas songs for the first time. We also got the first "white stuff" in the air today, not enough accumulation to stay on the ground but enough to cause many car accidents. I like to watch snow when I am home with a mug of hot coco, but not too keen on driving on the snowy road. The freezing rain made the road to work even more treacherous this morning. It is dangerous enough to drive in the freezing rain, but, somehow, people forget how to drive properly after half a year. There are always those people who have big “I”(a five-letter word that ends with ot and rhymes with riot) stenciled on their forehead when driving on the first day of snow by zooming, changing lanes and passing recklessly. Thank God for getting me to work safely.
I always like the thought of Thanksgiving. My students are currently working on the Native Studies. When we had our Canadian Thanksgiving in October, I read a simple picture book about the Thanksgiving prayer from the native Chiefs. I don’t remember the exact book title, but here is a very similar one on line from http://www.aaanativearts.com/article1011.html. It is a great concept to teach the children about how to appreciate the Mother Nature.
I thank the web site for kindly sharing this prayer with all of us.
I thank the web site for kindly sharing this prayer with all of us.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Haudenosaunee thanks giving prayer....KEYWORDS: native American prayer thanksgiving prayer Haudenosaunee prayer Seneca prayer turtle clan prayer corn planter tribe Indian prayers prayer of thanks giving give thanks
AUTHOR: Family members state that the following prayer, as translated into English, was confirmed as being accurate by a woman who, at the time, was the hereditary Grandmother of the Turtle Clan of the Corn planter Tribe of the Seneca Nation of the Haudenosaunee. (She has since passed.)
AUTHOR: Family members state that the following prayer, as translated into English, was confirmed as being accurate by a woman who, at the time, was the hereditary Grandmother of the Turtle Clan of the Corn planter Tribe of the Seneca Nation of the Haudenosaunee. (She has since passed.)
- Nov 18 Sun 2007 14:37
University Life: the Freshman Year
- Nov 18 Sun 2007 06:37
Two PhDs for Hire
For those children who are not doing well in my class, I generally have an interview with the parents right away to discuss about the child’s difficulties. I hate to wait until after the report cards get sent home. It would seem to be a bit too late for me by then. I want the children to do well and I want to help them overcome any obstacle as soon as possible. Often, during the interview, I get to know the personal side of their family stories.
One day I had to talk to a parent for the third time regarding her child’s progress. The family just moved to Canada about a year ago. The child is still receiving additional language support from the ESL program. It usually takes an ESL student three to five years to fully function at the regular grade level. For this particular child, she has sufficient oral language competency to communicate in class. I am more concerned about her learning behaviour at school because she does not seem to acknowledge whether she fully understands a new concept after the instruction or she needs more teacher assistance. I can not help a student who simply stares at you blank with two big bright eyes, no nodding, no facial expressions or no words of YES or NO.
The parent was very supportive at the interview, and she told me that both she and her husband are aware of this problem. They are working consistently at home to help the child bridge the gaps. Afterwards, she started telling me about their family situation, which is just like many other family stories that I have heard over the years.
This family just came from Asia. Both parents were university lecturers with PhDs in their native home country. They came with a dream and a hope of securing a similar position here in Canada. Both of their credentials and qualifications have been evaluated, converted and recognized by the professional institutions here. The mother has to stay home with the youngest toddler and two older school-aged children due to the expensive child care cost. The father has been looking for work for the last six months in his field but is currently pumping gas at a gas station. They are distressed and disappointed that they can not find jobs in their professional field. It is only the matter of time when their saving runs out. When the family is distressed, the child usually reacts to the distress in their own way.
I call this one a typical immigrant story because I have heard many others like this one over the years. I have met teachers working as school custodians, engineers working in the factory, doctors working as maids at nursing homes or as taxi drivers, accountants working as cashiers or architects working in constructions. Historically, Canada is a country of immigrants but has not been able to fully utilize the highly skilled workforce they have welcomed with open arms in the recent years. It takes a long time for these foreign trained professionals to finally find suitable jobs for their skills. It is a waste of human resources and intellects in my view.
- Nov 05 Mon 2007 08:16
Novel Studies and Ordinary Miracle
We have novel studies for the Grade Three students. One of the novels that I would read with my students this year is Charlotte's Web. Ordinary Miracle, one of my favourite songs by the Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan, is used as the theme song for the movie, Charlotte's Web. Here is the video clip.
- Nov 03 Sat 2007 11:54
Awaiting Heaven
This is a song of my past. Every time when Bryan Adams started with that "Oh, thinking about all our younger years...” I used to feel so sad that all my close friends were so far away in Taiwan. Although I have lost contact with so many friends throughout the years, I have made new ones as well. Somehow, no matter how many friends I have made or how many years I have been here, once a while, my heart still aches whenever I hear the song play on the radio.
I have been in Canada for a while and have made this place my home. For those people who have left your home countries and have been far from friends and family for years, maybe some of you can understand my sentiment here. I sometimes feel like I just don't belong to a particular place anymore, a misfit. When you situate yourself in a foreign land, no matter how long you have been in the place, you are always looked upon as an immigrant from afar, an outsider. I know I have made this country my home, but once a while, I have this romantic thought about the rosy past in Taiwan. I miss my past and everything old. I love Taiwan.
The truth of the matter is I probably would miss Canada if I were in Taiwan right now. I love Canada, too! Last time when I was in Taiwan, I could sense that I was treated as a guest in my own country. The sense of belonging has gradually faded. Sometimes I wonder if my world in Taiwan has changed to the point that I can not recognize or relate to any longer. It simply has become a completely different reality from the memory of my past. I have close attachment to both places, but I also feel that I don’t belong to either. I am merely a passenger through time.
A few days ago, an old classmate accidently came across my blog and got in touch with me. I was so excited to hear from an old pal from the past. Through blogging, I am also getting in touch with people, strangers, schoolmates and acquaintances alike, whom I would have no way of communicating years ago. I am grateful and also cherish deeply for this kind of special encounters. The world at large is suddenly only a click away on my desk by my coffee.
- Oct 31 Wed 2007 19:33
Monster Mash (song)
October 31, 2007
Happy Halloween for the Little Ones: Monster Mash
This is a popular tune for Halloween Party for the little ones at school. I'd better get my recipe for my Witches' Brew ready for this afternoon. Yahahahahahaha........(with a shrieking voice)! My kiddies just love me when they drink my secret potion with the ingredients of spider legs, toad blood, lizard tail,..., and a grain of salt. YahaHAHAHAHA(can not stop my shrieking laugh)!
- Oct 28 Sun 2007 03:09
It Is Hot: I Don't Dance
It is quite popular right now. Some kids really like these two movies, High School Musical 1 and 2. I have never watched the movies, so I can not really give you the critique. My friend was telling me that his daughter in grade three could watch and listen to the songs all day long. Anyway, here is a couple of cute clips of the song, I Don't Dance, from the movie. The first one is the version that I like, and the second video clip is the kids' perferred version with lyrics. Enjoy it!
- Oct 28 Sun 2007 02:33
New Student
Wherever there is a war, atrocity or disaster happened in a particular country, we know that we would be getting a few students from that region in a year or two. Canada is quite well known for taking in refugees. Years ago, we had the children from Somalia. Then we had children from the Balkan region when the war was raging in Europe. Not too long ago, we had a surge of Afghan children. Now we are getting students from the Middle East. I have a student who just came from Iraq five months ago. All these refugee children have one thing in common; they do not speak a word of English when they arrive.
The little Iraqi boy I have is a very bright little boy. He landed in Canada with his family and registered at our school in June. It is amazing to see how much English he has picked up over the last few months. Whenever I am teaching in class, I could tell from his sparkling big eyes that his mind is trying to process all this information in a completely different language. He laughs at my jokes and shows so much enthusiasm to participate in class. So far, he seems to be able to follow the class’ momentum quite well.
One quarter of my class is ESL students and another quarter is children with special needs. The rest of the students are within a range from being average to tremendously smart. To teach a class like this, it takes a lot of thinking and planning ahead. Quite often I find myself being “a comedian” or I have to resort to use “physical drama” like a clown in order to teach a new concept to the class. I turned the lesson on “photosynthesis” into an action drama. The lesson on “pollination” was done without getting too much into the technical birds and the bees. My students seem to take the words such as “eggs” and “ovary” quite normal like a scientist without any woo or ahhh. (Hehehe….My drama professor would be very impressed with how I have applied everything I learned from her class.)
In September, the little boy and his mother came to our Curriculum Night for the first open house. The mother tried using her limited English to tell me that the boy really enjoys being in my class and he thinks that I am very funny. (Hahaha…. I AM very funny! Tell that to my sister. Maybe I should just forget about teaching and get into acting or stand-up comedy instead.) I was so pleased after I talked to his mother. At least I know he is grasping some of my instruction in class.
The other day, I was reading a book titled The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland. It is a lovely book that I read every year whenever I get to teach the part how some plants grow from seeds and the seeds can stay dormant for years. When I was reading the part that the main character and her family had to flee Vietnam and escaped from the war to come to a new country, I could see my little student from Iraq with tears swelled up in his eyes. I had to stop reading for a few seconds to pretend to cough and then secretly wiped away my tears. The boy UNDERSTOOD my story reading very well and he was able to relate his personal experience to the story.
- Oct 24 Wed 2007 09:10
Talking Taiwanese
Johan Gijsen is a Linguistics professor at I-Shou University in Taiwan. I guess the university was established after I left Taiwan because I had never been there. Anyway, he has written a few very interesting articles about Taiwan’s language education on his blog Talking Taiwanese. I enjoy reading his blog because he is not simply criticizing Taiwan’s education. He has also provided his theoretic and analytical viewpoints to suggest a constructive frame work and different feasible models for the language education in Taiwan. I sometimes leave my comments to offer him my two cents. I am pretty sure he will be thrilled to receive more comments from other readers who care very much about Taiwan’s language education. With his permission, I have linked his blog to mine. The following is my comments sent to him regarding his latest articles, University entrance admission practices and quality of education. I strongly recommend you to visit his blog and read this particular article before reading my comments. Thanks.
****************************************************************
Johan,
What you just posted about the reality in university is really new to me because it is very different from years ago when I went to university in Taiwan. Based on what you have described, now I have very grave concern about the quality of university education in Taiwan. Somehow, the education authority, either the MOE (Ministry of Education) or scholarly institutions, have some misconception about the role of a university. A university should be an institution of a higher esteem for specific theory and research study, which is different from a college or a regular high school, isn’t it? From what you have described about how the faculty tried to help students “catch up” with the standard in an English department screamed “high school” to me. That is what we do in public education- we help all students high or low to meet their individual needs with remedial support in order to pass on to the next level, either to a college or a university, because it is compulsory PUBLIC EDUCATION.
I would expect university students to have certain self-reliant discipline to function in a highly challenging academia. I call this maturity of self-discipline as positive “learning behavior” which requires independence and diligence. Students without this kind of adequate learning behavior would not and should not be ready for university study. Maybe they should not be there to begin with.
Many young adults here in Canada are going back to universities after years of working because they finally have the maturity and direction to pursue higher study. For the same token, many university grads are going back to college to learn practical skills in order to function in the trades or professional fields they are in. That is the distinction between skills and research study. I know all parents, regardless Taiwanese or Canadian, would hope to see their children go through university education. The truth is that not all students are cut out for the university route, and university is not the only way to get ahead in the world.
