2014年5月28日 星期三

How Blogging Helps Second Language Learners Write Better?


Glocalization & New Born Englishes


First, in this video, I am going to explain what is glocalization.
Then, I will introduce how glocalization affects English learning.
Do we have to follow the standard English myth?
If not, why don't we have to?


2014年5月23日 星期五

EZ TOEIC--THE APP THAT HELPS YOU MEMORIZE TOEIC VOCABULARIES

Since it is very popular nowadays in Taiwan that everyone wants to get good grades in TOEIC,
I am going to recommend an app that not only helps memorize some vocabularies, but also some listening training in this app. It is produced by an English learning center called "EZ English", which also publishes some English learning magazines in Taiwan.


The reason I like this app is that it has a leaning mode that strengthen our English learning abilities in 聽力練習 mode. It separate TOEIC vocabularies in A to Z. Also, the app will have a record of your learning state.
If you finish listening the vocabularies from A to Z, you can take the test. And if you finish the test, the app will show that you finish 100% tests in the app.


As long as you start the 聽力練習 mode, it will keep playing by itself. You can also choose to move backward to the previous vocabulary or stop it when you don't want to use it. It will also automatically pronounce all the sentence. Even you are not watching at the monitor, you can listen to the sentence. And inside the sentence, there are many phrases that can teach you more about the vocabulary. For example, in this phrase "back taxes," I can learn what it means, and learns how to say 報稅期限 in English, so I think it is very helpful.  

Another mode of this app I like is the 易錯字列表 mode. After taking the test, it will tells you what words you misspell. And I will be more careful on it.

2014年5月22日 星期四

5/22 Online English Learning

This semester is about to the end,
so we take a picture together today.
Also, there is another reason that makes me want to take pictures,
because Vicky looks fashionable.
She looks like a woman that has a decent job and has high living quality,
so i ask her to take a photo with me.





I like Vicky's style, so I take another picture with her.
She also has really thin legs...
And Tina only wears bikini today...,
but today is not that hot?




Since we are going to perform an ancient drama,
we have to build a Chinese traditional court.
Then we started to build a court,
the picture was taken in the court we built.
And we find it is dark inside,
and then Daven goes to turn on the light.
This is an amazing function.
I am the panda with a knife in my head, but why?
Because yesterday (5/21) there was  a murder in the Taipei MRT,
I read so many reports about the crime, I had even nightmares in my dream,
that's why I have a knife with my head to show that I am follow the event yesterday
and how it affects me.
Images about people got killed, the knife, the bloody MRT were still making me anxious.



Because everyone's avatar today is human, I then decide to transform myself into humans.
I shopped online and got the bloody T-shirt for one dollar.
Maybe I was traumatized by the news, I start to wear like these creepy style?!
Still don't know why I transform myself into this style, could anyone tell me?
Also i  have  a gas mask with me, maybe I want to protect myself? I feel myself in danger?
That's interesting..........
I observed everyone's avatar today,
and I found that some people looks very beautiful or good-looking in the game,
but they don't really dress in that way.
I think this is an interesting phenomena.
In Second Life, we can transform ourselves into anything we like to be.




And then I become a ghost-looking avatar,
somehow it shows that I want to be invisible?!






And now Vicky is fixing a table for me,
because I am a judge,
I need a table.
They were trying to fix the table, it was not in the middle of the room, plus,
it was not balanced.....

I am very satisfied with my avatar today,
I like to be a ghost!

2014年5月1日 星期四

5/1 Online English Learning 【No Nuke】

Today we are asked to build sign boards by ourselves in Second Life.
Since recently, I pay much attention on anti-nuclear movement, so I made a board with the an anti-nuclear sign. Because I am extremely busy on my school affairs, I don't actually go on the street to protest in Taipei. Then, I decided to make this to show my position. Evelyn and I bend our head, because we feel frustrated on this issue recently.
 

This audio is Evelyn and I discussed about why I made this anti-nuclear sign board in Chinese.



And now, let's see what else I have done today. This is what I have made in the first time of making a sign board. There are some plant on the floor that are not made by me. I don't know who makes these, but they look ugly. The picture is taken at Shu-Lin train station in New Taipei City by me. The train is about to come out from the wall, which has its visual effect. T
 I met my classmates. He rode on an all-terrain vehicle which looks really cool, so I asked him to photograph with my BMX and me.


 I also took a picture with these fireflies. From April to the beginning of May is the time that fireflies appear in some mountains in Taiwan.
Fireflies once almost disappear in Taiwan, but recently, people find that they are back. Perhaps it is because some of us start to protect the environment. Hope that in the future, there will be more and more fireflies to recover.

And I was stunned by this avatar. I don't know where he/she comes from. I said hi to him/her, and he/she said hello to me. Then he/she left........ At least I have taken this photo right away, or I will think that my eyes have some problem. I never see this before, so I think it's very interesting, what a colorful avatar!

2014年4月16日 星期三

English King- An English Learning App That Brings Vocabulary Memorizing More Fun




Preface: When learning English, most of the Chinese have problem of memorizing English vocabularies.
I always feel bored and easily fall asleep when memorizing English vocabularies in traditional vocabulary books. 
Then, I find the APP "English King" to help me memorize English vocabularies during my fragmentary time which is efficient and effective!   



 There are basically two learning modes of this APP. One is vocabulary learning mode (單字學習), which provides meaning, spelling and has a example sentence.  Another is challenging mode (單字挑戰賽). I think this is one of the most interesting part of this APP. It makes vocabulary learning a competition, which motivates me to learn quickly.


Another part of this APP I like most is the TOEIC learning mode. In TOEIC learning mode, I learn lots of  commercial vocabularies. Vocabularies pop out randomly, and the words are all frequently used in work place. It's an useful learning tools not only for students but commercial people. 


 And here is another example from TOEIC level. Compared to the traditional vocabulary books, the app has pronunciation device that helps user memorize the pronunciation. However, the pronunciation function only available when your device is connected to the internet.





Conclusion:
This APP is easy to operate, because the operation interface is simple and clear. It also runs smoothly under every learning mode, and it doesn't take time to wait. I feel convenient when using it to review. Through this app, it is like someone training and interacting with you, so it won't be boring when memorizing vocabularies.

2014年4月10日 星期四

4/10 Online English LEARNING

This time, I finally got my head back.
However, I feel bored to be a rabbit anymore.
I then decided to transfer into a panda.
How good it would be if the real life can be switched back and forth all the time!!!
Because I want to try some new outfits on my panda,
I asked Evelyn if she could take me to the outfits shop.
In the real life, Evelyn always knows where to buy new clothes.
No wonder in Second Life she is still highly professional on searching places to buy clothes.
However, because I haven't been added to the group, she cannot teleport me.
Then my professor tried again to add me, I can be teleported by Evelyn.
Thanks to Evelyn, or I will get some trouble if not in the group list.
The shop is very convenient for us to change our outfits.
I tried some ugly looking dresses that I would definitely not wear in the real life, which makes me look really ridiculous.
But somehow I enjoy this brand new looking on me very much.

▲I enjoy this grandma-looking dress and the unknown red stockings. 
I should take a close shot to show  more details on my clothing. 
What a pity! This design is so great! 
But I will definitely not buy it in my real life. XDD 
It will make me look very old-fashioned.

Then we get to another place. I forgot the name of the place.
Everyone stays together there. Someone told me to take picture with them.
So I change my outfits again. This time, I wore a pink dress with little white spots on it.
It is super!!!! I think this is even stranger than my last dress(I called it Grandma-Looking Dress). The pink one is lighter, which makes my panda look younger.
And the cutting is very tight! This time I know how to control the camera.
I took a close shot on my panda and look at the lens.


It's more accurate now. At least, the panada can be controlled! It's a big progress for me.
 
▲ I am very curious about who put the grilled sausage here?! 
▲And don't know why I become a human. This time I learned how to pose. There are so many gestures to choose. I have forgotten the name of the pose. I guess it is called "muscle." Another gesture called "dance 2" is hilarious as well. But the avatar dances so fast that I cannot catch it.


▲In the end of the class, I started to feel a little dizzy. Perhaps it was because I flew very fast that I cannot get used to it. I found an empty place with the sun setting and took a picture here. I carried a guitar on me and tried to look cool. There is only black and white on my clothes and sunglasses. Still, I took a flower with me to make myself look a bit ridiculous. Although the pose is called "bored," I don't look bored at all, right?