Something about "Attitude"

I have had other experience about “attitude” lately. I took a job offer few weeks ago. It’s a company class in Taipei city. The boss there provides the environment and the tuition for the employees to learn English, but they need to pass the GEPT test and can’t be absent from the class. Basically, they are forced to be there. They don’t really want to take the class. The resentful feeling to the company is transferred on me.

I didn’t know that in the first class but just felt the atmosphere was a bit weird because the class leader wanted to quit his job after I introduced myself. It made me feel there must be something wrong. During the break time, the “ex” class leader told me that he quit because he didn’t want to communicate with the supervisors there. I thought that was okay for me but not really.

The second class, there were two new students who were absent in the first one came. They started asking me where I graduated, how long I have been teaching English and if I have taught this kind of class before. When they realized that I just graduated from a Christian college and have never studied overseas, they started to give me the kind of face which tells you they don’t want to give a shit of you. The reason why they are here is because they have to, not because they want to. I tried to ignore that but during the class, I told them if they want to make their English ability better and pass the test, they need to practice it all the time. They didn’t really give me any reaction, so, I tried to let them focus on what I wanted to say. I then said, “You really need to practice using English every “f..king” day, talk to yourself… “ Before I finished my speaking, one of them started laughing and said, “You’ve really never been to the states.” The other one of them replied right away, “She just sees too many movies.” The following week was even worse. I gave them some practice about GEPT and had them discuss the answer and then talked about the grammar structure. After that, I gave them some handout for practicing speaking because their speaking ability is not really good. They have no problem on communicating with others but they can’t say it in proper English, they are using “Chinglish”. When they got the worksheet, the same guy just laughed and said “Oh, I know what it is. It’s just asking questions about the topic. .. bla.. bla.. bla..” Then, he started doing the activity with his partner.

I looked at him and I was thinking you guys are sitting here with that kind of attitude and listening to my lecture in “English”. One third of you are about 10 years older than I am. I am not saying my English is very good, but I believe I am still able to let you learn something you need to, like how to pass GEPT and how to sharpen your English speaking ability. Of course I didn’t say anything about this but just pretended I didn’t hear and see what they were saying and doing. =>(Thanks to my parents for teaching me good manner.) But, do you guys really think I can stand in front 15 of you and teach you just because I’ve seen too many movies???

Well, I think that’s the reason why they are NOW sitting down there wondering how they can do to pass the test.

Grammar - Frequency Adverbs

Frequency Adverbs - To talk about how often you do something.
頻率副詞 - 表示事情發生的次數 用在一般動詞的前面,Be動詞的後面
They are used before the “regular verb” and after the “be verb”

always usually often sometimes seldom rarely never
100% -----------------------------------------------------------------0%
Ex: Sam usually does his homework after dinner. Jan is never late for school.


Exercise:
Answer the questions by using “frequency adverbs” above.

1. How often do you sleep past noon? (never)


2. How often do you wear a hat to school? (seldom)


3. How often do you wash dishes after dinner? (never)


4. How often do you eat fish for dinner? (usually)


5. Are you always late for school? (never)

No,_____________________________________________________________________

6. How often do you watch TV before you come to school in the morning?(sometimes)


7. Do you always finish your homework before you go to sleep? (never)

No,_____________________________________________________________________

8. How often do you study English at night? (always)


9. How often do you play computer games? (seldom)


10. How often do you go to school by yourself? (usually)

Grammar - 3rd Person Singular 第三人稱單數現在式

在現在式中 有一個特別的地方要注意 就是第三人稱單數
當主詞是第三人稱單數時 一般動詞的後面要加 "s"或 "es"

For example:

I work everyday.
You work everyday.

He works everyday.
She workds everyday.
It works everyday.

I go shopping every Sunday.
They go shopping every Sunday.

He goes shopping every Sunday.
Sammy goes shopping every Sunday.
Debby goes shopping every Sunday.

Sammy = she
Debby = she


加 "s", 或 "es" 的規則

1. 一般來說 都是加"s" -- work / works; type / types; love / loves;
2. 當字尾是 s, x, sh, ch, o 時 請加 "es" -- kiss / kisses; fix / fixes;
wash / washes; watch / watches; go / goes
3. 字尾是母音加 "y" 直接加 "s" -- play / plays
4. 字尾是子音加 "y", 則去"y"加 "ies" -- study / studies; carry / carries

Exercise:

1) I __________ (watch) TV everyday.

2) Jim ____________ (watch) TV everyday.

3) Jan and Sam ___________ (walk) to school every morning.

4) He ________ (do) his homework everyday.

5) I ________ (get) up at 7 every morning.

6) Jim and I _________ (get) up at 7 every morning.

7) Ms. Lee _________ (teach) English at school. She _______ (be) an English teacher.

8) I __________ (want) to drink some water.

9) Sam and Tina _______ (go) to school everyday.

10) My mother _________ (cook) dinner at 6 every evening.

After reading "The Pragmatic Programmer" - 1

Few weeks ago, my friend showed me a book that he is reading, "The pragmatic programmar". I thought it was a book about what he is doing now. He is a software engineer. However, he told me I can read the first chapter because he thinks it can be a big help to me.

After reading it, I found that I really like it a lot. I have read it for 4 times and have had different thinking every time. I put the strategies into my life and my work. They really do work. I also find some people don't really have the same attitude and it makes me different from other people who are doing the same job like I am.

I want to share some of my thinking and how I make the philosophy in my life here.


The Cat Ate My Source Code

One of the cornerstones of the pragmatic philosophy is the idea of taking responsibility for yourself and your actions in terms of your career advancement, your project, and your day-to-day work. A Pragmatic Programmer takes charge of his or her own career, and isn't afraid to admit ignorance or error. It's not the most pleasant aspect of programming, to be sure, but it will happen—even on the best of projects. Despite thorough testing, good documentation, and solid automation, things go wrong. Deliveries are late. Unforeseen technical problems come up.

These things happen, and we try to deal with them as professionally as we can. This means being honest and direct. We can be proud of our abilities, but we must be honest about our shortcomings—our ignorance as well as our mistakes.


-- In my job, I can see different kind of studnets who are from different fmailies. The parents educate their kids in different ways. And it makes all the differences on their kids.

Students are lazy doing homework, and they forget things easily. I think one of the reason is that their parents do too much for them. When they forget what I asked them to do, they would said "My mom forgot to put it in my school bag, or My mom didn't remind me that." One of my student doesn't even know where his books are because his mom packs up his school bag "everyday". When I want them to hand in their homework, I see different reactions. When the kids are asked for homework, and they didn't do it. I can hear a lot of lame excuses like "We went out last night and got home too late to do homework." That really frustrates me.

So, the next paragraph is what I tell my students in the class. I talk about it with my adult students, too.

"Take Responsibility"

Responsibility is something you actively agree to. You make a commitment to ensure that something is done right, but you don't necessarily have direct control over every aspect of it. In addition to doing your own personal best, you must analyze the situation for risks that are beyond your control. You have the right not to take on a responsibility for an impossible situation, or one in which the risks are too great. You'll have to make the call based on your own ethics and judgment.

When you do accept the responsibility for an outcome, you should expect to be held accountable for it. When you make a mistake (as we all do) or an error in judgment, admit it honestly and try to offer options.

Don't blame someone or something else, or make up an excuse. Don't blame all the problems on a vendor, a programming language, management, or your coworkers. Any and all of these may play a role, but it is up to you to provide solutions, not excuses."

-- I think that is the most important attitude for people. You are the one who makes the decision for what you want to do. Once if you promise someone to do something, do it. You have the right not to take the job, but when you say yes, you need to put your best efforts on it.

When I first got divorced, I didn't know what I should do. I just simply want to leave the hell. I did blame my parents for not helping me with my life, even now. I did a lot of work to get a divorced. I know it won't be a easy life for me since people in Taiwan still can't accept women who are divorced. I know there is still a lot of things I have to do. Now, I am trying really hard to live my own life since I have just started it for about two years.

I don't make decisions for doing things easily, don't promise my daughter for the things I can't do, but when I say yes to her, I will make it. I want to educate my kids to have the same attitude. I ask them two or three times when I ask them to do things, and when they promise me for doing them, I ask 2 more times and have them repeat my requests. It means they really understand what I want them to do.

Make the promises serious, and make them know they need to take the responsibilities for what they say.

For my adults students, they always say that they don't have enough time to practice English or do the review. I just tell them, you are the one who pays the tuition. Since you pay for it, it means you want to come and learn English with us. You need to do your best to make your money and time worthy. So, I ask them not to skip classes easily, if they really have to be absent for class, they need to call me first. Otherwise, I won't tell them what I do for the class they don't come.

I know it makes me a serious person, but I believe it only does me good for doing things this way.

Grammar - 問句的種類

There are two different kinds of questions.
1. yes/no questions
2. information questions

問句有兩種 第一種叫yes/no questions
就是要你回答yes 或 no 的
這種問句都是以動詞或助動詞開頭
ex:
1. Are you a teacher?
Yes, I am a teacher. / No, I am not a teacher.

2. Do you like English?
Yes, I do. I like English. / No, I don't. I don't like English.


第二種問句叫做訊息問句 是為了求得更多的訊息
所以會用7個不同的"w"來問

1. who - 問人
ex: Who is she? / She is my sister.

2. what - 問事或物
ex: What are you doing? / I am reading a book.
What do you like to eat for lunch? / I want to eat noodles.

3. where - 問地方
ex: Where do you live? / I live in Taipei.

4. when - 問時間
ex: When do you get off from work? / I get off from work at about 7.

5. which - 問哪一個
ex: Which dress do you like, blue or red? / I like the blue dress.

6. why - 問理由
ex: Why are you crying? / I am crying because I didn't pass the exam.

7. how - 問方法及如何(怎麼樣)
ex: 方法 - How do I get to the train station? / Just go straight, and you will see it.
如何 - How do I look in this dress? / You look great.

其中"what"和"how"有更多不同的用法
在"what"後面放上不同的名詞 就有不同的用法
ex:
1. What color do you like? / I like blue.

2. What kind of music do you like? / I like rock n' roll.


在"how"的後面放不同的形容詞 也有不同的問句
ex:
1. How often do you go shopping? / I go shopping once a week.

2. How many people are there in your family? / There are 5 people in my family.


Exercise:

Answer the questions -

1. Who is your favorite singer? (favorite - 最喜歡的 / singer - 歌手)
記的用"favorite singer" 開始你的問句 因為那是這個句子的主角

2. What kind of movie do you like?
I like _______________________.

3. What time do you wake up?

4. Where do you work?

5. What do you like to do in your free time?

6. When do you start working?

7. Which do you like to drink after meal, coffee or tea?

8. Why do you like (or dislike) English?

9. How many books do you read a month?

10. How often do you drink coffee?

11. How do you look like?

12. What do you usually eat for breakfast/lunch/dinner?

13. How do you learn English?

記的句子的結構

主詞 + 動詞 + 受詞 + 地點 + 時間

Grammar - More Oral Practice in Simple Present Tense

Always ask and answer in completed sentences.
記得一定要用完整的句子問問題與回答問題
不一定要有對象才能練習 你可以自問自答
如果有任何的問題 可以留下你的問題喔

ex: drink coffee in the morning
Q: Do you drink coffee in the morning?
A: yes, I do. I drink coffee in the morning. /
No, I don't. I don't drink coffee in the morning.

1. watch TV everyday

2. go to work on time

3. eat breakfast

4. do exercise

5. drink 5 glasses of water everyday

6. take a bus to work

7. surf the Internet everyday

8. eat dinner with your family

9. like English

10. speak English in your daily life

Grammar - Present Simple - Writing your daily life

接下來 把這一個段落換成你自己的生活作息 然後把它唸出來 記得要把地點和時間放到句子的後面喔

I usually get up at 7-30 every morning.

After I get up, I brush my teeth and get dressed.

Then, I leave home for work.

I usually buy something for breakfast on my way to the office.

I usually eat bread and milk for breakfast.

When I arrive the office, I usually turn on my pc and check my mail.

Then I start doing my job. I like to eat beef noodles for lunch.

After lunch, I like to take a walk and a nap.

Then, I get back to work again.

I get off from my work around 6 – 30 everyday.

After that, I go to my English class. I like English very much.

After English class, I go home and take my shower and eat my dinner.

Then, I like to watch TV before I go to sleep.


Now, it’s your turn.

Grammar - Present Simple - Oral Practice

口語練習-記得要用完整的句子問及回答 (不要說沒有人可以陪你練習 你可以自問自答喔)
Oral Practice:
Ask your partners the questions below, use complete sentences.

EX:
Q: Do you wake up at 7 everyday?

A: Yes, I do. I wake up at 7 everyday. /
No, I don't. I don't wake up at 7 everyday.
I wake up at 8.



1. Do you wake up at 7 everyday?

2. What time do you wake up?

3. Do you always eat breakfast?

4. What do you usually eat for breakfast?
(sandwich, coffee, soy soup, buns, bread, milk…)

5. Do you leave for work at 8?

6. What time do you leave for work?

7. Do you drive to work?

8. How do you go to work?
(drive a car, walk, take the bus, ride the scooter, bike..)

9. Are you always on time for work?

10. Do you work with computer in your job?

11. What do you do in your job?
(talk to costumers, do paper work, file the documents,
arrange things for supervisor..)

12. Do you like your job?

13. What do you like / dislike about your job?

14. Do you eat lunch in the office?

15. What do you usually eat for lunch? (rice, noodles, hamburgers, bread)

16. Do you drink coffee?

17. What kind of drinks do you like? (juice, tea, coffee, water, coke, soda,)

18. Do you take a break after lunch?

19. What do you usually do after lunch?
(take a nap, drink some coffee, take a walk, read some book,)

20. Do you get off from work on time?

21. When do you usually leave your office?

22. Do you watch TV in the evening?

23. What do you do after work?
(watch TV, have a date with my g/f, b/f, have dinner,)

24. When do you usually go to sleep?