ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

I just found a pretty good website where I can find up-to-date TV programs from Set TV in Taiwan.  This is the link.  http://taiwanyes.ning.com/group/youtube

Some of my favorite TV programs are 大話新聞 and 新聞挖挖哇.

Recently I used a phrase in my article: "It fareth between thee and me as it doth between a player at the chess and a looker on, for he that looketh on seeth many draughts that the player considereth nothing at all."  I like this phrase a lot.  The phrase seems to originate from William Fullonius's Latin play, The Comedy of Acolastus.  In plain English, the stander-by sees more than he who plays.  In Chinese, it means "當局者迷，旁觀者清".

For example:  please click on the link to my article.  http://elisaenglish.pixnet.net/blog/post/40322797

An Olympian in the Making

This is actually not a story about an Olympian but rather some trivial about my son.  If you have been reading my blog, you will know that my son took some ski lessons last winter.  This winter, he is enrolled in the snowboarding class.       

The Company You Keep

Are you at the point where you begin to worry about the company your children keep?  I wasn’t until recently.  It seems to come much sooner than we thought.  I would say that sometimes the parents are the culprits.

Male Chauvinism

A glimpse of the different teaching styles through my son’s experience

Our kids were born to a Chinese-language immersed environment.  Both my husband and I speak Mandarin to our kids.  My husband learned to speak Taiwanese when he was in college.  Though he is a Hakka, he cannot speak the dialect.  I do want our kids to pick up some Taiwanese, so they can communicate with their grandparents.  I would mix Taiwanese and Mandarin when I talked to them occasionally.  It might be hard to get them to the point where they can speak Mandarin fluently let alone Taiwanese.  We can only do as much as we can to help them to understand the language/dialects.  They might never have the use of the language/dialects but that is not my purpose of introducing the language/dialects to them.  It is more about the fun of being exposed to different languages/dialects and learning the different culture as well.  My son also took after school Spanish class for about a year.   

It is getting close to Taiwan's Presidential election and we can tell whom some of our friends support.  Everyone has his or her reason to support a certain individual.  I also have a very strong preference for a political party even though I cannot vote.  You all know who she is, the person I would vote for if I have the voting right.  

When talking about politics, sometimes people take up positions that defy any reasonable logic.  A mellow person may show his or her side of aggressiveness to gain support for the person he or she supports.  I have seen that families become battlefields and family members turn against each other during the time of elections.  Anyway, what was I trying to state?  It is life and we do have to tolerate the difference among all of us to peacefully coexist with those who we consider as friends as sometimes friends don’t always see eye to eye with you. 

Our school has a gifted program for exceptionally gifted kids starting in their 2nd grade (it used to be 3rd grade but changed to 2nd grade this year), whose IQ is above 145 and who scores in the 95th percentile or above on NWEAs over the last three testing sessions. Out of curiosity, we finally decided to attend the open house after two years of hearing the program, not that we think that our son is exceptionally gifted. Maybe our daughter meets the criteria more. Just kidding! We all like to think that our kids are genius.

Anyway, the program seems to be pretty unique as it is dedicated to addressing the unique cognitive, social and emotional needs that these kids especially require. Some of the students have ADHD and issues with social interaction. Most kids seem to show characteristics that set them apart from regular kids such as high sensitivity and the inability to socialize with people. My son seems to fit in the category of being highly sensitive, profoundly perfectionistic and perserverant in his areas of interest.

In case that you have children who are the same age as my son, you might be interested in the books he is reading now. Here is the list:

Out of my Mind (This is his favorite.  He is almost done reading the book)

Lawn Boy (This is his favorite. He is almost done reading the book)

The important role of an educator

It’s been a while that I pick up my pen and write again.  There is something in my mind that I really have to let out.  Teaching is a sacred profession and I can’t say it enough.  I have recently taken on a volunteering position to lead a team of seven students in an after school program.  Even though it is an after school program, I am always looking for ideas on how to provide these kids the learning environment they need to be creative, to generate ideas, to come up with solutions and to feel challenged and interested enough to be in the program.   So, I was really shocked when hearing what my son told me today.