Introducing Aspen Ross Lane. Born 12:54 in the afternoon. Weight 3594gm.
Ryo felt labor coming on at 6:30am and he was born that day at 12:54, just after noon. There were no complications. A few seconds after he came out he started to cry. I cut the umbilical cord. He started looking for a drink right away. Both mom and baby are doing great. They will be in the hospital until Friday.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Friday, February 02, 2007
Testing hurdle for international students
The link is no longer valid but I first read about this at http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/09/23/english.test.ap/index.html. I have a print out of it.
The article is about the TOEFL - the Test of English as a Foreign Language. It is a test that international students hoping to study in the United States can take to prove their language skills so that they can be admitted to a university.
The test has been changed to include a speaking component. Students will be asked to listen to some English and then read a passage and then speak about both. The organization the administers this test, the Educational Testing Services, hopes that the test will encourage a change in English education around the world. And I hope it does!
I have been looking for a good book to use in a short run English class for students going abroad. In my searcehs I have seen many books with titles like "Why Japanese can't speak English"and "What's wrong with English Education in Japan". There are many, many books like this that have been published. Many of them are quite old. Many more are published ever year. If everyone knows that there is something wrong, why is nothing changing? This is one of my biggest questions. It is a lament that I hear native English speakers teaching English in Japan and Japanese teaching English in Japan express all the time.
This reminded me of the article about the TOEFL.
So what IS wrong with English education? I don't know, but I think spending more effort on creating your own English is a start in the right direction. What I mean is, it is important not just to read and listen and memorize, but to try your hand at creating your own sentences. All the time. Just do it! Do it in your head. Do it on paper. Do it in class. You must practice making your own English sentences. You must practice making English your own.
And that is all I have to say about that.
The article is about the TOEFL - the Test of English as a Foreign Language. It is a test that international students hoping to study in the United States can take to prove their language skills so that they can be admitted to a university.
The test has been changed to include a speaking component. Students will be asked to listen to some English and then read a passage and then speak about both. The organization the administers this test, the Educational Testing Services, hopes that the test will encourage a change in English education around the world. And I hope it does!
I have been looking for a good book to use in a short run English class for students going abroad. In my searcehs I have seen many books with titles like "Why Japanese can't speak English"and "What's wrong with English Education in Japan". There are many, many books like this that have been published. Many of them are quite old. Many more are published ever year. If everyone knows that there is something wrong, why is nothing changing? This is one of my biggest questions. It is a lament that I hear native English speakers teaching English in Japan and Japanese teaching English in Japan express all the time.
This reminded me of the article about the TOEFL.
So what IS wrong with English education? I don't know, but I think spending more effort on creating your own English is a start in the right direction. What I mean is, it is important not just to read and listen and memorize, but to try your hand at creating your own sentences. All the time. Just do it! Do it in your head. Do it on paper. Do it in class. You must practice making your own English sentences. You must practice making English your own.
And that is all I have to say about that.
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