Assignment 10

1.  Write a list of listening skills that you learned about from each of the units.

Unit 1-Main ideas-a general idea of what the speaker wants to communicate to the listener. 
Unit 2-Making inferences-using examples and facts to imply the ideas  and expect the listeners to make an inference.
Unit 3-Listening for examples-examples can help the listeners understand key concepts better.
Unit 4-Recognizing appositives that explain-to provide a definition or explanation of the idea.
Unit 5-Organizing notes with a T-chart-dividing the paper into two columns and write one category at the top of each column.


2.  Which listening skill (mentioned above) did you find the most valuable?  Why?

I think the skill of organizing notes is really valuable because it helps me improve my listening skills most. Before learning this skill, I had difficulties organizing my notes and the result is that I would write down all I've heard but didn't know how to separate main ideas, details, or examples. After unit 5, I start to learn the efficient way to write down the most important information and organize it easily. 
 
3.  What are some ways in which your listening in English has improved this semester?

As I mention before, I can only write down all I'v heard when listening. However, after learning so many skills, I think I've made some progress in these skills and start to listen in an efficient way. Now I know how to separate main idea and details, learn to get the inferences from the speaker, and to organize my notes. Also, lots of practices make my listening improved as we listen to the Slum Dog every week, ted talks, ads, songs and presentations from classmates.

4.  What are some challenges that you still face in your English listening? How do you plan to overcome these challenges?

Although I've learned the skills, sometimes I still can't separate the main idea and details with too much information. I think the best way to overcome this problem is though more and more practices. After all, practice makes perfect!


5.  Based on your experience with listening to many different types of activities in English this semester, what is the most efficient way that you can train yourself to improve your English listening on your own?  Explain your answer.

I think the most efficient way is TED talks because they are interesting and the words the speaker use are common in daily life and not too difficult for me to understand. I can improve my listening ability and learn something interesting and some important ideas at the same time. 

Assignment 9 - Music Video

Why are you sharing this song?

It was when I watched the trailer of "The Great Gatsby" that I heard this song for the first time.
The leisurely and a little bit of sadness make the song very intriguing to me, and the voice of the singer is so beautiful that I can't help but listen to it over and over again. Also, the words express such a sorrow of no longer being young are so touching. 


What is the meaning of the lyrics?

The song is about a woman who love her man deeply but is sad about not being young any longer. She has been though all ups and downs in her life and seen all kinds of things. "I've seen the world, done it all" she sings, which expresses the years she's been through. "The way you'd play with me like a child." reminds her of the early days and memories of the lovers. "Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?" She doubts whether her man will love her forever or not, but she then answers herself "I know that you will" to trust the man. She loves the man so much that she sings "he's my sun, he makes me shine like diamond"

Assignment 7 - TV Commercial in English

What is happening in the commercial?
A mom is handing over a new born baby to her husband and they are about to go home from the hospital. When the father put the baby in the back seat, he said " Hey buddy." with tenderness and love. However, when they are driving, there is a car coming to them and almost hits them. The life flashes before the baby's eyes that he recalls all the memories from the beginning of his life. Fortunately, the father stops the car instantly and steadily.  

What is the product or service?
The product is the Volkswagen Jetta 2013.

Who is the target audience?
I think the commercial targets parents and emphasizes on the safety and stability of the car. When the father is stopping the car, the baby doesn't cry out of scared.

What emotions does it use to persuade the reader to buy the product or service? (fear, guilt, excitement, humor, etc.)
At the beginning of the commercial, it's really cute and and worm to see a happy family with a new member. However, it makes the audience nervous about what will happen next and afraid to see something terrible accidentally show up. In the end, it uses a sense of relief as we see that the baby is fine.

Does it do a good job in persuading the watcher to buy the product? Why or why not?
I think it's a success commercial. If I have a baby and are thinking about buying a car, I will take it to my consideration. I think it will also attract other kinds of audience because we all can see how stable and safe is the car and I think that's the most important part of a car.

Assignment 6: Animal Documentary

Why am I sharing this documentary?

In summer time, I can't stand the hot weather in Taiwan, which makes me want to lie on the ice and do nothing. While in winter, I have to put as many clothes as I can to go out the buildings or I feel like I will be frozen to death.

When I turn on the air condition in summer or the heater in winter, there is always a question in my mind--what can those animals living in the hottest and coldest places do when they don't have the air condition or the heater as I do?

When I saw this video, I'm so impressed by their body condition and want to share with you.


Summary of the documentary

When it’s cold, we put on clothes to keep warm. When it’s hot, we dress less and even turn on the air condition to cool down.

Animals, like us, have to keep their bodies’ temperatures within a certain range to survive. In the harshest environment, some have developed remarkable ways to deal with heat.

For example, elephants live in hot places, and have several ways to keep in cool. One way is through the skin, where heat energy is lost. Second, the wrinkles covering the elephants give the heat to escape. Third, while playing in the muddy water, elephants can cool down their bodies. When they leave the pool, the mud can holds moisture in their skin. Besides, the most impressive system for beating the heat is their ears, which radiate a lot of heat. When it’s hot, blood vessels in the ears open, and allow it to cool when it flows through the skin. Also, elephants flap their ears to get the heat out.

At the coldest place on earth, the few creatures that are able to survive face the opposite problem. They need to conserve heat energy. Emperor penguins for example, know how to keep warm. First, they stick together and take tern standing in the middle. Second, a penguin’s feathers are densely packed, overlapping, and water proved. Third, they have small feet which are filled with fat so they can stand on the ice ground on their bare feet.

TED talk--Do schools kill creativity?

1. Summary

There are three themes that Sir Ken Robinson talks about in this TED talk.The first one is the evidence of human creativity in all people. Picasso once said,” all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.” Why we get educated out of creativity? This led to the second theme he talks about - education. All kids have talents, but through the process of education, they are squandered. All education systems on earth have the same problem, which is that they focus mainly on academics and think that arts are the less important things, but they should be equal. The third theme is the capacities for innovation that children have. Most kids have lost the capacity by the time they get to be adults. Education system makes us think that mistakes are the worst thing we can make, so we are afraid to be wrong. And the result is that we are educated out of creativity. Robinson said, ''If you are not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.'' 

2. What can listeners learn from this talk?

Robinson shows us an example of Gillian Lynn, who did “Cats” and “Phantom of the Opera”, to illustrate his idea. When she was a child in school, her teacher told her mom to take her to the doctor for being unable to concentrate and having a learning disorder. The doctor let Gillian sit on a chair in an empty room with music playing and watched through the window with Gillian’s mom. When Gillian danced, the doctor asked her mom to take her to the dancing school, and she then became the famous artist. 

I think listeners can learned from the three min themes that Robinson shares in this talk, and also look inside this example more deeply. What if Gillian’s mom believed in the teacher’s words and thought her daughter as a failure in the process of education? Then maybe Gillian will live an unhappy life and we would lose a great artist. We should avoid being affected by the education system and protect our creativity from being destroyed by it. Or we can make our efforts to change this system and save the future youth.  

TED talk--Who am I? Think again

1. Summary

It's a TED talk from Hetain Patel, who is an Indian born in England. Patel is an artist who didn't want to follow the traditional Indian cultures, dress, and the way of living although he looks like a local Indian. In this talk, he shares about the artwork he's been doing and the ideas about self-identity. At the beginning of the talk, he uses a really funny and humorous way to express his ideas to us, which is whether we can be identified by our gestures, hobbits and moves or not. He keep repeating the same paragraph in Chinese in different tones to pretend that he is speaking in Chinese and ask the girl beside him to translate into his English introduction. He then shares his own experiences to express that by imitating, we can reveal something unique inside ourselves.

2. What can listeners learn from this talk?

Very often, we identify someone only by his or her appearance, by the language the person speak, the accent, the race, and the gestures. However, we have to think deeper than surface appearance, to look inside the person. Also, we don't have to be identified by who we are or where we are from, we must be formless and shapeless like water, then we can learn who we really are by copying others.

movie clip--Life of Pi

Which movie does this clip come from?
Life of Pi

What is this movie about?
Life of Pi is talking about an Indian boy named Pi who was on a ship with his parents and brother in order to immigrate to the US. However, they were in a horrible shipwreck and Pi was the only survivor who lived on a little boat with a furious tiger for hundreds of days. They started a surprising journey and tried to live in the ocean. You will be amazed by lots of gorgeous scenery and awesome sites, and also be touched by the friendship between the boy and the tiger.  

What is happening in this clip?
When Pi woke up finding that his family was gone and there was only a tiger with him, he tried every way to make himself alive and force himself not to give up. He wrote letters and put them into bottles, hoping they someday will go to another person's hand.