User Comments - johnball66
johnball66
Posted on: Focus and Specialization
December 30, 2011, 04:55 AMThe lesson topics are not topics that people talk about at social occasions here in China. In my experience it is mobile phones, soap operas, Internet trends, house prices, relationships, music and film releases etc.
If you think about it, these topics are constantly changing so there will always be something new to talk about. You could have a show each month previewing the film releases for example which would be fresh and new each time and give us vocabulary and sentence patterns that we could use in our everyday conversations. Obviously people will demand high brow topics relating to history and culture but a balance can be struck here.
I find myself learning the specialist vocabulary just so I can follow the conversation. Most of the time I don't use the vocabulary and forget it. I have not been to bothered about this preferring to concentrate on complete mastery of high frequency vocabulary.
Posted on: Focus and Specialization
December 30, 2011, 04:37 AMI got 涼 (liáng, cool) mixed up with 两 (liǎng, two) once. I was on my own and ended up with one warm beer because I said I only wanted one and not two.
Usually they say 冰 but last summer they said 涼
Posted on: Outdoor Survivors (Part 2)
July 30, 2010, 04:26 AMWhen I heard the teaser about the hedgehog in Part 1 I thought the couple would end up skinning and cooking it in a sweet and sour sace made from wild forest berries.
Posted on: 郑和七下西洋
October 19, 2009, 12:06 AMThe Multiple Choice questions are too easy. I never thought I would be in a position to complain about this for an Advanced class so in some respects I am happy.
The questions are the same as the example so I find myself remembering the examples and not the new vocabulary.
Posted on: Star Trek
September 20, 2009, 04:09 AMI have to confess that I was able to utilise an error in the excercise to gain a score of 13/15 in the vocabulary test when the true score should be 11 or maybe even 9.
The answer "exploration" appeared in Multiple Choice questions 1 and 3 so I was able to see which Chinese word was common in both lists. You didn't need to have the brain of First Officer Spock to spot this. Can Scotty can reprogram the Chinese Pod computer in time for the next Podcast ?
Posted on: Napkins, Facebook, and Ctrip -- What a Combination!
April 19, 2009, 08:52 AMAn idea:
I got 10/10 in the Advanced vocabulary exercise last week. To be honest I was a little lucky but I was so pleased about this I wanted to tell my friends.
Would it be possible to modify the software so that you could post to Facebook if you got 10/10 in one of the excerices? At the moment you can do this if you win a big pot at online poker so it should be techically possible.
Posted on: Guilin Mifen
April 14, 2009, 10:55 AMDid you film an alternative ending with Mat getting caught ? Did you see how sharp the chefs knife was when he was cutting the carrots ? Rather you than me mate !
I am always the one who gets caught so I will be using the example menu at MIT if it's alright by you.
http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/Foreign-Languages-and-Literatures/21F-104Spring-2006/CCC35E29-EA46-4B2C-91CA-AAAC0C6F19D3/0/menu.pdf
Posted on: 小沈阳
February 28, 2009, 08:43 AMA transcript of the sketch (skit) would have been nice although of course it may not be possible for legal reasons.
We have all worked hard to get this far and this was a good opportunity to sit back and have a laugh.
I and many others could not follow it so the opportunity was lost.
Maybe something more visual with a link to a video next time.
Posted on: Karaoke
December 30, 2008, 02:56 AMAnyone who comes to China on business should be able to perform "Yesterday Once More" by The Carpenters as it is taught in English classes here so it is a big favourite.
This is not cool back home I know the turning point my career in China was a performance of Rod Stewart's "Sailing" at a drunken Teacher's Day dinner in front of the management board of my college.
You may laugh It just broke the ice and despite the huge cultural differences everything went just that little bit smoother after that.
Other favourites include:
My Heart Will Go On
My Love (Westlife)
Season's in the Sun
Modern Karaoke bars have a huge selection of English songs but you should not rely on this and you should know at least one of these songs as a fall back option.
Posted on: English Grammar Difficulties
May 28, 2013, 12:43 AMHow about a lesson containing vocabulary for controlling students
such as:
"Be Quiet",
"Switch off Your Mobile Phone",
"This is a Classroom not a Nail Bar"
...