Thursday, September 21, 2017

Unit 2: Back to School


“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.'

Listening Skills
  1. Music: "Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd 平克·佛洛伊德 (lyrics, fill in the blanks)
  2. More music Back to School,


Writing: Review Punctuation and Capital Letters
Present Tense Dialogue: I live in Pasadena

A: Where do you live?
B: I live in Pasadena.
A: Where is Pasadena?
B: It's in California加利福尼亞州.
A: Is it in northern在北部的 California?
B: No. It's in southern California.
A: Is Pasadena a big city?
B: It's pretty big.
A: How big is "pretty big"?
B: It has about 140,000 people.
A: How big is LA (Los Angeles洛杉磯)?
B: It has about 3 million 300萬 people.
Adopt to Taiwan
Extra Present Tense Dialogue: What's on TV?

Phonics Reading 1: Back to School (short e)
  1. Vocabulary: well Ned tests met set letter get tells better best
  2. Back to school vocabulary game
  3. Short e tongue twisters
  4. Extra: “EA” words (head, dead, breath, bread, deaf)
  5. Good-better- the best
Grammar: Comparisons
 More Practice, 2, Online Games





Positive    Comparative        Superlative
good        better             best 
bad         worse              worst 
little      littler, less      littlest, least 
far         farther, further   farthest, furthest


Grammar: 25 Most Common Verbs see also


Reading 2:  Finland Reforms Education For the Digital Age (A Class/ B Class)



Introduction: Brainstorm about the title
Vocabulary:
  1. education system
  2. prepare
  3. emphasis
  4. training
  5. performance
  6. necessary
  7. subjects
  8. skills
  9. succeed
  10. facts

Finland 芬蘭 wants more than to have the world's best education system. It wants to prepare students for the digital age數字時代. It wants to put more emphasis on digital and workplace skills. An example of this would be to use 3D printers in classes for students to make models 模型 of things they read about. There will also be training in real-life work places. Students' performance would be judged by a teacher and by a worker from the company公司 helping the student.

One teacher explained 解釋 why change was necessary. She said school is divided 分開 into subjects to learn, but our brain  is not divided into subjects. She said students needed to think differently. They needed to think about the problems in the world. She questioned whether today's children get the skills to succeed in such an inter-cultural 跨文化 world. She warned 警告 it would be a mistake to let children think that the world is simple, and that all they need is facts.


Idioms 成語:

Write the English meaning. Draw the literal meaning. In your notebook write an example for each.

  1. Bookworm
  2. Brainstorm EX: The team got together to brainstorm (the project).組員們聚集在一起(就這個企劃)集思廣益。
  3. Copycat EX: You're just a copycat! 你只會學別人!
  4. Hit the books 
  5. Teacher’s Pet

Monday, September 4, 2017

Unit 6: Poverty Part 1





Introduction Activity: Students roll up a piece of paper into a ball and throw into teacher's basket. The students closest make it, this is representative of privilege.



What is poverty? What is "the poverty line 貧窮界線" ?



Readings 1 and 2 will not be divided according to English proficiency. The handout includes more writing exercises then whats given on this blog page. There will be a test after the 2nd reading to determine who the new A and B class will be.

Reading 1: Child Poverty Grows as Cities Expands (2012)

Vulnerable: able to be easily physically, emotionally, or mentally hurt,influenced, or attacked
易受傷的;易受影響(或攻擊)的;脆弱的
How do we protect vulnerable children? Complete this table with your partner.
Protect from…
How
Problems / Barriers 障礙,阻礙,隔閡
disease 疾病
EX: vaccinations 給…接種疫苗
EX: who pays for it?
violence 暴力
child labor
gangs 一幫,幫派, 團夥,集團
crime 違法行爲,犯罪活動
drugs 非法毒品


Word Cloud of our first reading

Vocabulary: Instead of using Quizlet, which is great, but they are getting bored, I am going to use a visual Thesaurus and see if they can guess the Chinese meaning.

  1. UNICEF (n.) 聯合國兒童基金會
  2. staggering (adj.)
  3. proportion (n.) countable part
  4.  basic services (pl. n.) life's essentials EX: clean water, housing
  5. urbanization (n.)
  6. vital (adj.)
  7. disadvantaged (adj.)
  8. exploitation (n.)
  9. slums (pl. n)
  10. thrive (v.)
  11. settlements (pl. n)
  12. Basic vs Basis: basic (adj.)基礎的,基本的;根本的 vs. basis (n.)基礎,根據 
EX: I really need to get some basic financial advice.我的確需要一些有關金融的基本建議。This document will form the basis for our discussion這份文件將是我們討論的基礎



Slumdog Millionaire 貧民百萬富翁 (2008 India)

Child Poverty Grows as Cities Expands (2012)

A new report from the United Nations Children's Fund warns that hundreds of millions of children in the world’s cities are living in poverty[貧困]. UNICEF’s "State of the World’s Children Report" says a staggering proportion of children lack [don't have] the most basic [most important]of services, including clean water, education, health, proper toilets. "Urbanization leaves hundreds of millions of children in cities and towns excluded [outside] from vital services," the Children's Fund said. The Fund also says these children are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in the world because they live in fear of violence and exploitation on a daily basis. Millions of children are forced into child labor (work) and the sex industry.

The report explains how the slums where children live have diseases such as pneumonia [肺炎] and diarrhea [腹瀉], two of the biggest killers of children under five in the world. UNICEF spokeswoman, Marixie Mercado, says many children are disadvantaged from birth and are excluded [不包括] from “normal” society [社會] in which richer children can thrive. She says: “One-third of children in urban [city] areas are not registered[登記] at birth [and that] makes them much more vulnerable to exploitation throughout their lives.” UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake added: "Children are vulnerable to.…the injuries[傷害], illnesses [生病] and death that result from [因…發生] living in crowded settlements atop hazardous [dangerous] rubbish [garbage] dumps or alongside railroad tracks."

Write 3 questions on the reading. Write 3 questions about the reading and apply to your life. If you could ask a child slum dweller 3 questions, what would they be?




Also on Netflix with Traditional Subtitles

Reading 1 Ending Discussion:
  1. What are other names for slums? shantytowns, squatters, barrios, favelas, 
  2. Where are the world's 200,000 slums? See UN-habitat 聯合國人居署
  3. Why are most slums located on the outskirts of big cities?
  4. Does Taiwan have or had slums?  Treasure Hill寶藏巖 Taipei
  5. What are squatters 非法佔屋? Does Taiwan have squatters?
  6. Why doesn't the government do more to help people in slums?( Many governments don't count slum dwellers in their censuses, let alone measure their sense of security.)
  7. How can slum dwellers help themselves? Akhter Hameed Khan, who in 1980 began mobilizing the community of Orangi, the largest squatter settlement in Karachi, Pakistan. He started a research institute called the Orangi Pilot Project to help residents organize and build a sewer system. Each block collected money and began construction of their own sewers, which served some 90 percent of Orangi's residents by the late 1990s. Between 1982 and 1991, infant mortality rates in the settlement dropped from 130 per thousand to 37 per thousand.
In the slums of Nairobi, communities long neglected by the government are just beginning to gain some level of political effectiveness. In Mtumba, for instance, residents have begun to organize. "On our own," says Tom Werunga, "we have built a school." Four teachers juggle morning and afternoon shifts to teach more than 400 children in three classrooms.
Crossword Review + Quiz on Reading 1


EXTRA: The world’s invisible children — millions lack a record of their birth (September 2017) 
EXTRA: Poor Kids (2012) Frontline, video, transcripts
EXTRA: Poor America, Child Trafficking in Cambodia




Reading 2: Girls and Women Worst Hit (2013)


Word Cloud of Reading 2
October 11- International Day of the Girl (Taiwan Gov't,
GIRLS: What are they up against? Complete this table with your partner.
Girls
Inequalities 性別不平等
How to prevent 阻止, 妨礙,預防 inequalities
Birth 出生
EX: female infantcide 殺害女嬰
Education
Marriage
Career職業
Violence
Business商業
  1. recession (n.) economy going down EX: Demand for new cars has fallen due to the recession.由於經濟衰退,人們對新車的需求減少了
  2. think tank 智庫
  3. international development: the improvement of developing countries (former colonies) to become freer, richer
  4. humanitarian(adj.) devoted to human welfare
  5. marginalized (adj.) excluded from normal society
  6. entrenched (adj.) firmly established, dug in
  7. inequality (n.) lack of equality
  8. economy (n.) the system of buying, selling, distributing resources /  economic (adj.) 經濟的
  9. domestic abuse (n.) mistreatment in the home, usually by a man to the woman or children
  10. rates (pl. n.) amount of time something happens, EX: mortality rate 死亡率 Infant mortality is much higher in the poorest areas of the city. 在這個城市最貧困的地區,嬰兒的死亡率要高得多。 Taiwan Death rate 
  11. shrank (past of shrink) to become reduced
  12. domestic chores (pl. n.) housework, EX: cleaning, cooking
  13. hit (v.) to have a negative effect on a person or thing 產生不良影響;打擊
    EX: Production has been badly hit by the strike.罷工嚴重影響生產
  14. paint a black/bleak picture of something (Idiom) to describe a situation or person as extremely bad
    把(形勢)描繪得很嚴峻;把(某人)說得很壞
  15. sucked into something (phrasal verb) 將…捲入(不快處境或壞事中)
    I really don't to get involved in this argument, but I can feel myself being sucked into it.我根本就不想與整件爭論有任何瓜葛,不過我能感覺到自己被牽扯了進去

Girls and Women Worst Hit (2013)

It is hardly surprising news, but a new report shows that girls and women are those hit hardest by the global recession. The study is from the organizations Plan International, which is working to reduce [減用] child poverty, and the Overseas Development Institute - the UK's leading [#1] independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. They state that: "The world is failing [辜負] girls and women." The report's author Nigel Chapman said: "Girls are the largest marginalized group in the world." Mr Chapman added: "Much of the problem lies with 'entrenched gender inequality'." Chapman found that a worsening [惡化economy results [發生] in females of all ages having to work harder and suffering [受折磨] more domestic abuse.

Mr Chapman's report highlights a tragic [
悲慘的] increase in mortality [death] rates for female infants [babies]. He told the BBC: "The proportion of baby girls who died when the economy shrank rose five times faster than the proportion of baby boys who died….Hence [因此], a 1% fall in economic 經濟 output 產 量increases infant mortality by 7.4 deaths per 1,000 girls against 1.5 for boys." He paints an equally bleak picture for girls not being able to complete (finish) their education. He reports that the global recession saw a fall in primary [elementary] school completion for girls of 29% compared to 22% for boys. "Girls get sucked into domestic chores," he said. "Once they stop going to school it's very hard to get back into the rhythm of things."



COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1.What is hardly surprising?
2.What are the names of the organizations behind the report?
3.What kind of issues does the Overseas Development Institute deal with?
4.What, according to the report, is the world doing to girls?
5.What do women suffer more because of a recession?
6.What is there a tragic increase in?
7.What is the ratio of baby girls to boys dying during economic decline?
8.What kind of picture is painted by Nigel Chapman?
9.What does the figure of 29% refer to?
10.What is it hard for girls to do if they stop going to school?


It makes sense to talk about Child Labor after our first two readings as it was briefly mentioned in Reading 1. For the rest of the unit's readings, I will divide them according to English proficiency and use a more detailed ppt in the classroom.

POVERTY Part 2: Taiwan

Part 3: Solutions



October 17- International Day for Eradication of Poverty 國際消除貧困日
Film: Living on One Dollar (2013) 56 minutes (also on Netflix Taiwan with traditional subs)
EXTRA: Stevie Wonder headlines anti-poverty concert in Central Park

EXTRA: Japan Japan's Rising Child Poverty,





Projects/Extra:


  • Use picture books that depict how communities have resisted and grown in poverty.
  • Look for opportunities to engage in joint projects instead of community service with students.
  • Ask families for input; build home-to-school connections.
  • Generate and maintain a dialogue between the student and his family around topics related to wealth and poverty.
  • Leverage community resources.
  • Offer service-learning that forges partnerships between students and members of the community.
  • Identify gaps in resources locally—and then examine economic systems of injustice more broadly.
  • Poverty shopping (Teacher Adam). This is to show the student how difficult it really is to live on a low income. The class will form groups and will become a family. They will have 20,000 for their group to live on for one month. They must list everything they will buy and the prices. Everything must be realistic. Once they have completed their list inform them of other cost they may have forgotten. Rent: $5000 Electric: $1000 Cellphone: $400 per person Cable TV: $200 Transpiration: $400 per scooter or car Clothes: $1000 Etc. Once the class has finished explaining their expenses ask then how much money their families would need to earn to comfortably live. Then ask them what kinds of jobs would allow them to earn that much money. Explain to them that these are the kinds of jobs that their parents have and this is the kind of situation their parents go thought every month. Explain that the difference between their lives and poverty is not really that great. All it would take is someone losing the ability to make money or having to accept job that pays much less to upset their lifestyle.

Poverty Sources:
http://www.thepovertyline.net/taiwan/
http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/cycle-poverty
https://www.daraja-academy.org/girls-education-effective-tool-fight-global-poverty/
https://www.one.org/international/blog/10-times-nelson-mandela-was-spot-on-about-ending-extreme-poverty-2/
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/film-festival-poverty-education-lessons
https://www.malala.org/girls-education
http://www.teachersnetwork.org/ntol/howto/eslclass/poverty.htm
Taiwan Fund for Children and Families
#GlobalPOV Project 
http://www.esletc.com/category/poverty-wealth/
http://www.esletc.com/esl-materials/global-issues-esl-activities/#worldwealth
http://rethinkingschools.aidcvt.com/publication/rg/RGPoverty.shtml

Ethical Issues for Esl Faculty: Social Justice in Practice

Living in Poverty Group Presentation