Reflection

What have we studied so far that interest you?

        The most interesting part for me is OpenCourseware. I never heard of this kind of website before this course. After teacher’s introduction, I had taken two lessons about humor sociology from National Taipei University. This type of website gives me a wonderful opportunity to learn from Taiwan’s number one university, What’s more, there is no time or space limit, so I can use it anytime anywhere. The most important is that OpenCourseware is free! There is no trial period; therefore, I don’t need to worry about the fee after the period.

What new things have you learned?

        Actually, every website teacher taught us is new for me. These websites and systems are really useful for me. There are two websites that I mostly use. The first one is Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. This helps me use “correct” English words. I don’t need to look for the usages of words; I can directly learn the usages from the explanation. Another one is CANDLE- National E-Learning Project from the professor of National Tsing Hua University. I use this website to find the collocations. I can also use it to look up the translation between English and Chinese.

Will what you have learned change your language learning behavior in the future?

        After taking this course, there are some changes in my language learning. I used to use YahooKimo Online Dictionary to look up words. Now, when I need to find some words, I will open the page of Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary instead of Yahoo Online Dictionary. I major in Applied Foreign Language, so there must be a lot of English report or assignment. Therefore, Cambridge Learner Dictionary really helped a lot when I did my assignment. Moreover, ESL Podcast helps me improve my listening. Its slow speed dialogue makes me clearly hear what speakers say and precise and simple word explanation helps me understand the words much better. Because of its slow speed and word explanation, I am willing to practice my English leaning more times through ESL Podcast. MyET system makes me practice my speaking. It grades by four parts, pronunciation, intonation, fluency and volume. It is very detailed that I can find out which part I am poor at and improve it.

        Through CALL course, I learn every aspect about English, listening, speaking, reading, and writing. I also realize that there are numerous learning websites that I can use to improve my English. All in all, CALL class helps me a lot about English learning. 

Assignment 10-OpenCourseWare

Before this course, I haven’t heard about or visited any opencourseware. After classmates and teacher’s introduction, I found it’s interesting. Even though I am in Taiwan, I can attend the classes in Massachusetts Institute of Technology through MIT Opencourseware. I can also attend the classes in Taiwan’s number one university, National Taiwan University. These websites can help us study without the limitation of time or space. We can use our cell phones to learn these courses whether we take the bus or the MRT. However, if there is some part we don’t listen carefully, we can reply it again and again until we understand. I think these opencoursewares will make me learn a lot. 

Assignment 6-TED Talk

Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days

https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days#t-28275

I had learned a similar idea from a test. I also wrote that sentence down and pasted it on my desk. The sentence is “if a person repeats his/her behavior twenty-one times, and it would become a habit; if he/she repeats this habit the same times, and it would be personality. Personality makes destiny; therefore, bad habit can’t make good achievement.” I want to share an example about my daily life to you. I used not to wear lotion, so my skin is dry. One day, my friend looked my legs; she told me my legs were too dry and looked terrible. After that, I tried to wear lotion day by day. It works and now I wear lotion every day. Although this example can’t be regarded as a great achievement; it makes my skin much better. 

Assignment 5-My story

Connect the dots

As Steve Jobs said,” you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.” When I was about nine or ten, my parents took me to a cram school for learning English. Spending extra time and learning English in the cram school made me got good grades in English tests. I also found English is an interesting subject and I like it. After becoming a junior high school student, I still got high scores in this subject. Among all the subjects, I always did well in English. Three years later, I graduated from junior high school and I chose to attend the Applied English of San-Chung Commercial and Industrial Vocational High School. Now, I major in the Department of Applied Foreign Language in NTUB. If my parents had never had me studying English from an early age, I couldn't find that I am interested in English and good at it.

Assignment 4-Steve Jobs’ Talk

This is the second time I watch this video. The first time was last semester. The teacher briefly introduced this speech to us, but I didn't catch the key points clearly. This time teacher gave us the scripts of this speech, so I have the second chance to learn from this renowned commencement address. The following are the five points that impress me a lot.

1."biological" mother : Before listening to this speech, I never thought of a word which can describe a mother gave a birth to a baby.
2.I learned many new words and phrases from this speech such as "stumble into," "dawn on," "fall out," "drown out," "gut," "naive," and so on.
3.You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
4.It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it.
5.Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life.

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc 

Assignment 3-Podcast

     This website is very different from other websites I used. Before we listened to audio, teacher told us the speakers would read the article with a slow speed. Beyond my expectations, it was really “slow.” Its slow speed made me clearly hear every word and every sentence. I used to practice my listening online; however, I needed to keep pressing the pause button and go back to listen again and again. In that case, I would lose my patience and interest to practice. Therefore, I really like the pattern of this website.

Assignment 2-Dictionary

1. swap(v.): to exchange one thing for another

The two computers can easily swap data.

2. disruption(n.): a situation in which something is prevented from continuing in its usual way

The strike  caused widespread disruption.

3. considerable(adj.): very large or much

He exhibited considerable skill in driving through the snowstorm.

4. faculty(n.):

(1)   the people who teach in a college or university, or in a department of a college or university

(2)   any natural ability, such as hearing, seeing, or thinking

Even though she is 102, she still has all of her faculties.

5. neighbourliness(n.): friendly and helpful behaviour, especially between people who live near each other(especially US English neighborliness)

neighbourly(adv.): friendly or helpful to your neighbours

It was very neighbourly of you to do her shopping for her.

After doing this assignment, I prefer to use Learner’s Dictionaries. I used to use Yahoo Kimo Online Dictionary. There were many vocabularies, but I didn't know which one I should use. However, Learner’s Dictionaries solve my problems; I can learn from the sentences to know the accuracy of vocabularies. Moreover, there are a few vocabulary boxes in some Learner’s Dictionaries. I can learn more information of vocabularies.