ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

My Wii Experience

I probably won’t buy any Wii if not for the Wii Games: Summer 2010 event which we accidentally ran into at the Mall.  As a disclaimer, I don’t work for Nintendo nor am I a spokeswoman for its product.  If you read my article “an interesting event”, you would know that I had a blast playing Wii, not for the games but for the dance and the sports.  Actually, they function somewhat like games.  I think that the scores actually motivate you to work out more and the competition with others pushes you to take that one extra step and work out harder.  In addition, if you do not have time to run to the gym, you can still work out at home.  I believe that I was sold the moment I tried “Just Dance”.  My daughter and I had copious amounts of fun dancing together.

What was I thinking?

Apparently, I wasn’t thinking at all when sending my son to a summer camp infested with mosquitoes this week.  Since his regular summer program ends last week, we have to find an alternative program for him before the school starts.  Enrolling him in YMCA’s Camp Christmas Tree sounds like a good idea as this summer camp is loaded with fun packed activities such as lake swimming, canoeing, archery, fishing, cookouts, horseback riding, arts and crafts, and so on. 

How did “Lady Gaga” come up in our dinner conversation, whose existence I know nothing of until I read the Yahoo news lately about Seinfeld’s complaint to the Mets of rewarding Lady Gaga for her obscenities with Seinfeld’s paid private suite?  I am sorry for my ignorance as I do not watch soap operas nor have I any interest in the publicity stunts.  I do, however, watch Seinfeld, so the news caught my attention.  Now, I know that Lady Gaga sings and behaves somewhat like Madonna or any pop singer, living a life of depravity. 

So, how did “Lady Gaga” come up in our dinner conversation?  One day, as I was busying preparing fruits for our kids to eat after dinner, my son blurted out “Lady Gaga”, followed by my daughter’s laughter.  You can imagine my astonishment.  I asked them how they knew Lady Gaga and who she was.  My son told me that she danced on stage.  Apparently, some of their friends did watch her dance on TV.  They were just amused by her name “Gaga” and that was the end of the conversation.  You know how kids are, easily amused.  I am glad that they didn’t know how she looks like or what she does outside of dancing and singing.    

When I translated the poem “如夢令” written by 李清照, someone asked if I would also translate the poem “如夢令” written by 向滈.  I didn’t respond at that time because I was somewhat busy and have gotten a little bit tired of writing.  Since I will be working 20 h0urs this week, I have some leisure time to look into this. 

Are you wondering why I only have to work 20 hours this week?  If you know me, you would know that I don’t like stress.  Raising two overly active kids and having a full time job is pretty stressful.  So, when my husband has to go on a business trip, our entire family would usually tag along.  However, we did not this time due to the extreme humidity and the intolerably high weather temperature in Austin, Texas this week.  Since I am stuck with our two kids, I have decided to take some time off from work.  In addition, I do not have an alternative daycare for my daughter whose daycare will be off tomorrow and Friday.  With the reduced work hours this week, I can have a better control of my day.  I can also take my son to the doctor’s to get his cast off.  Maybe for tomorrow after the conference call, I will take my daughter to the mall for lunch.  We can also take a walk at the park after I pick up my son.  As for Friday, I plan to bring my daughter to the State Fair and attend my department’s outing event in the afternoon. 

Identity Crisis:

This is somewhat in continuation to my previous blog– what is the purpose of education and why homeschooling? http://elisaenglish.pixnet.net/blog/post/12259843

** 版權所有 – Elisa English  

未經我(Elisa English)的許可, 不可轉貼或引用, 請尊重智慧財產權, 以免觸法.

Please slap my hand or smack my head for my urge to answer the questions.  It is none of my business, yet I felt profoundly puzzled.  Are teachers so unapproachable that students have to resort to asking for clarification of an answer online?  Aren’t your teachers the best resource to clarify your confusion on the answers they provided?  Aren’t they paid to demystify your puzzlement?  By the way, this is not to say that I am unwilling to answer your questions.  I do see that there are many students who truly want to learn English and have asked me some interesting and thought provoking questions.  I do enjoy answering their questions.  I am just questioning what drives the students to seek clarification online. 

If you are an English major, I would suggest that you ask your teachers first before resorting to internet.  At least, you know the credentials of your teachers.  I would think that for a teacher to be able to teach English in college, he would at least need a master degree in English.  On that account, his English shouldn’t be too bad.      

** 版權所有 – Elisa English ,  不可轉貼或引用, 請尊重智慧財產權, 以免觸法.

文章連結 http://elisaenglish.pixnet.net/blog/post/12536131

 ** 版權所有 – Elisa English ,  不可轉貼或引用, 請尊重智慧財產權, 以免觸法.

文章連結 http://elisaenglish.pixnet.net/blog/post/12535737

I have been thinking of writing an article about my view for homeschooling adopted by some Taiwanese parents and the purpose of education.  I finally get the time to sit down to talk about it.  What prompted me to touch on this topic was the suicide news(1), the article about the overbearing Asian parents(2), the infatuated obsession of a Taiwanese friend over her friend’s homeschooling and my stumble upon an article on homeschooling by a Taiwanese living in the US.  I hope this article serves as a wake-up call for some parents.    

The reason for that Taiwanese blog author to start homeschooling was her impeachment of the education system in the US.  In her view, the public K-12 education system in the US is a failure.  She based her argument on the 2006 NCES report that stated that US students ranked at the bottom third and fourth in Math and Science literacy respectively, when compared to students from other nations.  However, when I quickly glanced through the report she provided, she seems to have over-exaggerated the problem and painted a false picture.  What the report stated was that among the 40 countries participating in the 2003 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the U.S. ranked 28th in Math literacy and 24th in Science literacy, not at the bottom third or fourth.  This is the link to the report she provided http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33434.pdf.  She also stated that she sided with the author’s analysis in that the public k-12 education system had shifted its focus from the basic academic subjects to both liberal and environmental issues.  This statement baffles me.  Nowhere in the report did I see a suggestion of the shift of the American education system.  Maybe there were hidden messages that I didn’t pick up.  Anyway, she went on with her complaints about the many earth day projects that public schools participated in.  I am sorry that I cannot get her point.  What is the problem with teaching kids about earth day?  What’s wrong with teaching our kids to protect the earth?  Shouldn’t we increase our kids’ awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment?  Does solely focusing on Math and Science and ignoring other subjects the right way to teach our kids?  Is teaching our kids to excel in academics the sole purpose of teaching?  What’s wrong with liberal studies?  I am sorry that I am just too dumb to understand the teaching and child-rearing philosophy of some Taiwanese parents.