It has been a while. Today marks the 6th week of the short semester.another week to go before my students are gonna sit for their final exam. As for me, I am trying to put down on paper my hypothesis for my thesis. and I am trying to apply for a fully paid study leave from the academic institution that I am working at. I really need the time to really sit down and do the reading and the organizing of the data. I just hope that my application will go through and approved :))
Anyway, there are a few things that are cheering me up during this difficult times ^^
And Donghae's upcoming drama ^^
that's it for the time being.anneyeong.will try to update once a while ;))
How are you guys doing? How was your weekend?
I spent it battling my allergic reactions to drugs. In this case, medicine for
fever, paracetemol to be exact. Great is it not? How many people in the world
have the same allergy as me? Weird. Now I have to take brufen for fever.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings.M still battling my allergies by the way. It
has gone down a bit, its redness and itchiness. Well, have to live with it.
While I was fighting down my flu and
allergies, I spent my time watching Kimura Takuya’s Moon Lovers. Love the guy,
Takuya is. Most of the characters that he plays like in One Million Stars
Falling Down, I Come with the Rain, Moon Lovers, Pride and the list goes on;
most of them are dark characters.Characters that have a dark and painful past and make him who he is in
the future. While he is one interesting character in Beautiful Life, after
following his career for a long time, you kind of can “read” his mind and his
person. What I am trying to say is, you know, you will be wondering whether the
Takuya in real life is the same person as he is in the characters that he
plays. How is he in real life? What kind of man the guy is ^__^. I wonder.
Given an opportunity, I would like to spend some time with the guy to pick out
what is on his mind and try to understand the person beneath the interior.
Remember the two incidents of him being
penalized for reckless driving? One would wonder what triggered him to do that ?
Yeah, nothing is wrong in that people would say. Not that he was drunk or high
at both times but still.... I wonder.
In Moon Lovers, like always, he is surrounded
by women who are in love with him. Women are indeed easily fall for bad guys,
don’t you think? And yes, he is a bad guy at the beginning of the story. A
manipulative man, he would do anything to get what he wants. Being the head of
the company that he singlehandedly grows, well, literally, but technically,
there is a woman who has been with him from the very beginning, Maemi. She is
his university mate, his ally, his right-hand, his everything. Yes, she has
been in love with Rensuke, Takuya’s character in the drama, all this while but
keeps it to herself because it would be awkward for both of them if they were
to take their relationship to the next level. They have been quarreling while
working together for 15 years ( YES, I agree with Maemi, how dense can he be
for not being able to detect that as she has been doing everything for him
including clearing up his mess with the woman he falls in love with, the girl
he found in China, Xioa Mei, the Chinese model for his Tokyo’s Regolith company
). Not until the end of the drama that she confessed her feelings towards
Rensuke, when he is about to go after Xioa Mei at the airport, fortunately just
to send her off and separate on good terms. Well, life does not always go
according your way. He goes back to Maemi of course, after realizing that he
has been in love with her all this while. That is why he is comfortable opening
up to her, confiding about his personal, work and social life with her, not
afraid admitting that he is afraid of what life has to offer to him to her. He
cannot do that to Xiao Mei and the other girl who he regards as a sister.
Well, why the sudden diversion from something
academic to Japanese drama? As I was watching the drama, I was thinking of how
life imitates art/ drama/ movie, and vice versa. The moral of the story is
could we fall in love or be in love with our best friend? Would it work? Moon
Lovers tells us that it could work. It happens in real life too. Hey, even
Jason Mraz sings about it. Some of my friends experienced the same thing too.
They said that it’s easier for them as they understand each other and share
some similar interest, think aong the same line too. I do not know as I have
never experienced this. Most of my friends (and I prefer a small circle of
friends, which most of them are women. Never had a guy for a best friend L. Wish I had one :-)
Anyway, my point is, could it really work? What say you? Care to share your
experience? Please do so, I would love to listen to them.
This is one of my favourite songs from the drama.I get addicted to this one. Can't help it ^^
Enough for the time being. People might get bored with my Takuya obsession.
It's been a while that I put up anything here.Hhave been busy with exams, markings, editing, and my own research cum thesis thingy. Anyway, enough about me. I feel that I need to put this down as I get this question a lot these days, from my students.
Student :Teacher, how can I improve my reading skills?
Me : Read a lot, and read a lot of different things. On various topics. Ty to read an article a day.
Student: During the reading test,how can we guess the meaning of the words?
Me : Look at the contextual clues surrounding the word. If that's not helping, look at sentences before or after that. or you can also look at the prefixes and suffixes. and the list goes on.
Student: but teacher,sometimes I still can't get the meaning.
Me :Well, try to find the examples in the sentences and that can help you.or try to find words that are opposite in meanings.
That was what has transpired for countless times in my classes. I myself am amazed at how many synonyms and words I could come up with just like that. and bear in mind that even though I am an English instructor at my university, I am not a native speaker and I was not from the English-speaking background family. I learned English the hard way.
Most students are too lazy to read as they think that reading has nothing to do with their writing and speaking skills.They are so wrong. You need ideas to support your stand and views. And how else that you effectively do this? by reading a lot.
To read well, you need a strong vocabulary. To build a strong vocabulary, you need to read well.
Keep that in mind my dear students, and you will succeed.
Greetings from Malaysia. Hi.Anneyeong. How's your day so far? I started my morning with the university Rector-staff assembly which happens one Friday monthly, then on to invigilating mid term speaking test for my students.need to remind u that these are university students doing English proficiency before they major in their programmes. As a teacher, I believe in educating these students that it's not all about learning the language to pass the exam but it's a process of learning and preparing them of the soft and hard skills needed when they start their majors and jobs. And I keep telling them speaking test especially is not just about being able to speak but also to share ideas and develop and support those ideas properly, with relevant examples. so you cn imagine my dissapointment when most of these students cnt say anything that reflects their (im)mature judgement.who to blame, the teachers or the students themselves.
I am the kind of person who doesn't like to blame others when things go awry or wrong. but we need to take a step back and reflect what went wrong with the system that is producing these kinds of students who cant say something about any issues that we give them in them exam.
Extensive reading is my answer to this problem of not being able to properly develop their ideas. but these students are too lazy to read and go beyond our expectations.
Maybe we educators are in the wrong too.but what ever it is hopefully we cn work things out.
cherry blossom
Lets just hope that,just like the cherry blossoms that bloom during springtime,these students too will bloom and rise to their full potential in life.
Have a great weekend people. and like the great Chinese philosopher said, the greatest glory is not in never falling but in getting up every time you did.
anyway,I had my brunch already.wats up 2day?not much I guess.no teaching this morning as I had 2 be 1 of the judges 4 an inter-class debate competition.It was great 2 c that there r many natural born public speakers around campus.it's a great way 2 learn the language too.how else wud u b able 2 know whether u hav improved or not if not by speaking the language n making a lot of mistakes?it's after all,parts and parcels of learning and life. I was even impressed by one of the speakers becoz he was cunning n convincing enuf dat I made him the best speaker of the session.
I met my ex students at the venue too.they r repeating the proficiency level but wat to do.I just told them 2 do more 4 their own sake.we cn just guide them but they hav 2 do more on their own.who else cn help them if not them themselves? sometimes u just feel hopeless as u feel dat u hav done enuf 2 help them n yet luck is not wth them.better at second chance probably.
sometimes,life cn b a bitch.it doesnt treat u good,but dats God's way of testing ur faith n patience.I hav lost count in how many times my life hit rock bottom but here I m,stll going strong at the thoughts dat there r people who hav it worse than me.so,count ur blessings n start living.be stronger,n better.wat eva comes ur way,handle it properly and with care.as human,we only turn 2 God when we r in trouble.when we r good,we leave Him.dat should not b the way.dats why we r living a hell on earth.we r soulless beings,wandering around looking 4 dat something.wat is it?
I just wish everyone will lead a happy n healthy life. consult family n friends 4 our joy n problems.dat helps. friends in need r friends indeed. I m lucky dat even if I hit rock bottom,there r always my family members n friends who r there 4 me thru thick n thin.
anyway,dont wat 2 depress n make other people's lives miserable listening 2 my whining.wish u a good Friday.hav a great weekend n lead a happy n healty life.hope life treats u better.
let me apologize 1st 4 d wateva appeared in my last blog.was learning n trying my hand at blogging.I advised my students to write blogs as an approach 2 improve their language learning.hey,practice makes perfect right people? anyway,hmmm,wat 2 write 2day?I guess 4 a start I wud like 2 inform everyone dat this is gonna b my platform 2 share some ideas n experiences in life,in general;as a teacher,and a person.never thought of doing this as I hav always been on fb n twitter all these while. oh yeah,1 more thing.if u c errors,typo errors please ignore them.M not a good typist.
so,wat's 2day's issue?yesterday,I was helping and preparing my students 4 an upcoming debate competition.it's a yearly programme held by our language centre 4 the students 2 try out their speaking skills.as I was asking them to come out to the front,nobody really wanted 2.which made me irritated as they met my expectations;no one wud wanna try this.I told them learning a language is not just about doing the grammar exercises n the drillings,it's in the way u speak too.how u organize ur ideas n support them in ensuring that u cn persuade listeners n ur audience 2 agree wth wat u said.students these days r spoon fed dat they become complacent.wat they want is to pass the exam,nothing more nothing less.I m not saying all of them r like dat but most of them r.God,cn someone just shoot me.
I use Confucius sayings in my teaching sometimes just to get these people into thinking critically.it works.and I told them this is wat education n learning is all about.not just to pass exams.no wonder unemployment is still a major problem in any countries. wat they need are the soft skills,not just the technical aspect of the courses that they r majoring in. well,enuf nagging for 2day.need 2 prepare for my next class.will write more soon.
