Reflection Paper #11

In the beginning of this semester, I was confused which lesson I should choose to learn.  I asked my friend who chose CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) last semester what would I get if I choose this lesson.  She told me that if I was interesting in learning English, I can learn lots of tools on the Internet.  These tools will be useful in the future when I learn English.  After considering, I decided to choose CALL as I want to improve my English ability including speaking, reading, listening, and writing.

In the first class of CALL, teacher introduced what to do in the following semester.  At first, I still had no idea what would I get in this lesson.  The first thing teacher asked us to do is establishing our own blog and posted an article to introduce ourselves briefly.  In the following class, teacher told us lots of Internet tools and taught us how to use them effectively such as Internet dictionaries, OpenCourseWare, TED, and so on.

OpenCourseWare is a website which has a lot of lessons you can choose to learn.  The lesson in this website is not confined to the specific themes; I can learn lots of multiple lessons on it.  Therefore, I can use this Internet tool to not only improve my listening ability but broaden my horizons.

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks.  TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics － from science to business to global issues － in more than 100 languages.  Because of the extensive topic, I can use TED to listen the talks without buying any ticket and get the experience of others.

Now, it is the end of this semester.  I obtain lots of Internet tools to learning English.  I believe that they must be the important tools in learning English in my future.

OpenCourseWare #10

I have never heard any information about opencourseware.  This is my first time use this resource on the Internet.  I think this is also a wonderful way to learn English.  When using the opencourseware, I can not only enforce my English listening ability but broaden my horizons.  I can learn lots of multiple lessons on it.  I have already create the related links on my blog.  Next time, if I want to training my English listening ability, I just need to open my blog and choose one link I want.  Blog linking let learn English more easy and convenience.

TED talks #6

Derek Sivers
"If you tell someone your goals and they acknowledge it, psychologist I found that's it called a social reality the mines have tricked into feeling that it's already done. And then because you felt that satisfaction you're less motivated to do the actual hardware necessary so this goals against the conventional wisdom that we should tell our frieds our goals right so they called us to it."
Derek Sivers told us not to tell our own goals to others, including friends, family.  He said if we tell others our goals, the probability of success will reduce. To succeed, we should keep our mouth shut.

Connecting the dots #5

     When I was a senior high school student, I have to get the certification of "Level C technician for accounting".  To get this certification, we have to learn the Winton System which is always used by CPA firm.  I don't know why I have to learn this at that time.  I don't think it is useful for me.  However, I still learn how to use it.  Fortunately, I get the certification successfully.
     Now I am a university student.  At the beginning of being a university student, I looked for a part-time job to bear the living expenses.  Luckily, I found a job which not only can earn the cost of living but is relative to my learning, accounting.  On the first day I worked, I found that they used the same system I learn in senior high school.  I was surprised.  I was thankful that I learned this system in senior high school conscientious.  When I listen to the speech of Jobs last week, I can't agree with him anymore.

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward"-by Steve Jobs, on June 12, 2005.

Jobs-three stories #4

This week, we listen to Jobs' lecture in Stanford.  He shared three stories about his experience of his whole life.  It's inspirational.  From his lecture, I learn something.

1.You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
     He taught us looking our future rather than the past.  We can't change our past, however, we can decide our own future.
2.Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick.  Don't lose faith.
     There must be some challenges in our life.  We have to conquer it in case we meet the difficult.
3.Stay hungry.  Stay foolish.
     He encouraged students to move forward with a silly and learned anything interesting.
4.biological mother    means "related by birth"
     ex. She decided to search for her biological mother after her adoptive parents died.
          p.s. An adoptive parents is one who has adopted a child.
5.diagnosis    a judgment about what a particular illness or problem is, made after examining it.
     ex. The doctor has made an initial diagnosis.

Assignment #3 4/14

When I listened Podcast at the beginning, I though that the speed of speaking was very slow.  However, I found I was wrong when I continue listening.  Podcast is different from the material I used before such as Studio Classroom.  Both of Podcast and Studio Classroom are good for training my listening and they both explain the vocabulary in the article.  Podcast explain it in English, however, Studio Classroom uses both English and Chinese to do it.  Although they have a little different, I think both them are good at training my listening ability in English.

Assignment 2

I think the learner's dictionaries is good for me to learn vocabulary I don't know before.  In the dictionary, there are definitions, examples, the usable methods, and so on.  English learners can use it to know more and more words they don't know before.  If I have the English homework, I can use the dictionary to search the new vocabulary.  I also can improve my English ability through it.  Here are five words I use learner's dictionaries to look for.

Reinforce  If something reinforces an idea or opinion, it provides more proof or support for it and makes it seem true.
ex.The final technical report into the accident reinforces the findings of initial investigations.

Swap  to give something to somebody and receive something in exchange
ex.I swapped my red scarf for her blue one.

Corresponding  similar, or resulting  from something else 
ex.The cost of living in the city is more expensive, but salaries are supposed to be correspondingly higher.

Considerable  large or of noticeable importance
ex.The fire caused considerable damage to the church.

Neighbourliness  friendly and helpful behaviour, especially between people who live near each other
ex.a sense of community and neighbourliness