Ba Lao Shi Perfect English

31/03/2025

https://amyleunglanguage.com I just made a new website for my wife Amy. She teaches Cantonese and Chinese calligraphy. She also writes books about learning Cantonese and makes Youtube videos and is a commercial actress. I love her very much!

我剛剛為我的妻子艾米製作了一個新網站。 她教授粵語和中國書法。 她還撰寫有關學習粵語的書籍並製作 Youtube 視頻，並且還是一名商業演員。 我非常愛她！

Teacher, author, and YouTube influencer

23/03/2025

https://northernforum.net/we-were-all-gravely-mistaken-screens-are-to-blame-for-the-decline-in-student-performance-according-to-the-swedish-government/

In a decision that will hopefully be the start of a massive global rejection of education technology, Sweden has made a decision to spend $104,000,000 Euros to replace education technology and the use of AI and tablets in classrooms with traditional books and notebooks. This is because of the overwhelming evidence that education technology does not work and causes harm to students.

Declines in reading, writing, and comprehension in schools are a worldwide problem. Though a major part of this is the rise in personal technology, especially cell phones, dominating student’s lives, a parallel development has been that AI and education technology have been enthusiastically welcomed into classrooms with virtually no comparison studies showing any benefit over “traditional” methods.

Now there have been many studies that show that, despite the hype over AI and ed tech, the actual results in student performance are dreadful — and it is even worse when compared to the the results from paper books and other traditional methods. Besides the decline in reading, writing, and basic skills (especially problem solving), technology use is linked to declines in emotional well being, social skills, and empathy.

The evidence has been there and growing for some time. However, I have found that the common denominators of AI and ed tech advocates and researchers are usually 1. They are, in general, not paper book readers themselves. 2. They have not experienced the “before and after” of what students used to be like before being “zombified” by technology. 3. They have never taught primary school kids. 4. Perhaps most pertinently, they haven’t read ANY research about the negative effects of screens.

The default response by ed tech advocates to criticisms of screen-based teaching has been a wave of dismissal of “old ideas.” Now that the evidence is overwhelming, they will have to do better. The next step will be students and parents suing schools and universities — and hopefully tech companies and their advocates — for promoting something for students without performing any real due diligence as to its negative consequences.

瑞典決定斥資 1.04 億歐元，以傳統書籍和筆記本取代教育科技以及課堂上使用的人工智慧和平板電腦，這項決定有望成為全球大規模拒絕教育科技的開始。 這是因為有大量證據表明教育科技不起作用並且會對學生造成傷害。

學校閱讀、寫作和理解能力的下降是一個世界性的問題。 雖然其中很大一部分原因是個人科技（尤其是手機）的興起，主宰了學生的生活，但同時，人工智慧和教育科技也受到課堂的熱烈歡迎，幾乎沒有任何對比研究表明其比「傳統」方法有任何優勢。

現在有許多研究表明，儘管人工智慧和教育科技被大肆宣傳，但學生表現的實際結果卻很糟糕——與紙本書和其他傳統方法的結果相比甚至更糟。 除了閱讀、寫作和基本技能（尤其是解決問題）的下降之外，科技的使用還與情緒健康、社交技能和同理心的下降有關。

證據已經存在並且已有一段時間了。 然而，我發現人工智慧和教育科技倡導者和研究人員的共同點通常是 1. 他們一般不是紙本書的讀者。 2. 他們沒有經歷過學生在被科技「殭屍化」之前的「前後」狀況。 3. 他們從來沒有教過小學生。 4. 也許最切題的是，他們沒有讀過任何關於螢幕負面影響的研究。

教育科技倡導者對基於螢幕的教學的批評的默認回應是對「舊觀念」的拋棄。 如今證據已經確鑿，他們必須做得更好。 下一步將是學生和家長起訴學校和大學——希望還有科技公司及其倡導者——因為它們在向學生推廣某些東西時，並沒有對其負面影響進行任何真正的盡職調查。

In recent years, technology has become an integral part of our daily

11/03/2025

Number 26 of my Vocabulary Victory English Root Word Cards is one of my favorite roots, the lovely Latin “gratia,” which means “pleasing, good will, regard, favor.” In English, it takes the forms “grac,” “grat,” and “gree,”and gives us the English words “gratitude, grateful,” and the Spanish “gracias” and the Italian “grazia.”

Gratitude is usually called a synonym of thankfulness, but they are not exactly the same. Gratitude is an inner state, an awareness, acceptance, and sense of compassion. Thankfulness is an emotional response, an expression of that inner state.

To “agree” means to give consent, but it also means “pleasing” and “welcome” when we say something is “agreeable.”

The same root also gives us the word “grace,” a sense of virtue, beauty in movement or form. It also refers to Mercy of God and the small prayer of thanks given before a meal. We can say to a person, “grace us with your presence”

Health professionals tell us that the feeling of gratitude is one of the healthiest we can have. It is the opposite of the bitterness of blaming others. It is the grace we all need.

我的詞彙勝利英語詞根卡中的第 26 個是我最喜歡的詞根之一，可愛的拉丁語“gratia”，意思是“令人愉悅的、善意的、尊重的、青睞的”。在英語中，它的形式為“grac”，“grat”和“gree”，並形成了英文單字“gratitude,gratitude”，西班牙語為“gracias”，義大利語為“grazia”。

感恩通常被稱為感謝的同義詞，但它們並不完全相同。 感恩是一種內在狀態、一種意識、一種接納和一種同情心。 感恩是一種情緒反應，一種內在狀態的表達。

「同意」的意思是給予同意，但當我們說某事「令人愉快」時，它也意味著「令人愉悅」和「歡迎」。

同一詞根也賦予了我們「grace」這個詞，一種美德、動作或形式之美的感覺。 它也指上帝的仁慈和飯前的小小感恩禱告。 我們可以對某人說，“願你與我們同在”

健康專家告訴我們，感恩的感情是我們所能擁有的最健康的感情之一。 它與責備他人的痛苦正好相反。 這是我們每個人都需要的恩典。

01/03/2025

https://youtu.be/8J93a8yu23U?si=7ZZTzMX6ItngcIyh I can’t believe it, but I made this video nine years ago. It actually began with a question from one of my students, “why are there so many words in English?”

The answer to this question is found in the unique history of the English language and how it developed.

This video is the first part of a two part history of English words. I hope you enjoy it! If you do, please like it and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t mss any videos!

我真不敢相信，這部影片是我九年前製作的。 這實際上始於我的一個學生提出的一個問題：“為什麼英語中有這麼多單字？”

這個問題的答案可以在英語獨特的歷史及其發展歷程中找到。

該影片是英語詞彙史兩部分中的第一部分。 希望你喜歡它！ 如果您喜歡，請按讚並訂閱我們的 YouTube 頻道，這樣您就不會錯過任何影片！

A fun and interesting program about how the history of English contributed so many words to the language.

20/02/2025

This is shared from my Mystery Fantasy Book Club page. I had started this club a few years back before COVID shut down Hong Kong — and social clubs such as this. I didn’t do much with the page.

I now have decided to use the Mystery Fantasy Book Club page as a blog about mystery and fantasy books. The first post with this new focus is about Olvidia Yu’s wonderful mystery series set in old Singapore.

I want to encourage fiction reading. I also like to use reading aloud, both to teach English and as a group activity. If you like this idea, please go to the page and Like it, so you will be following it. If you like mystery or fantasy novels and would like to form an online chat group, please send me a WhatsApp 85296856156 or email me, [email protected]. Thanks and happy reading!

這是我從我的神秘幻想讀書俱樂部 Facebook 頁面分享的。 幾年前，在新冠疫情導致香港封城之前，我創辦了這個俱樂部，以及類似的社交俱樂部。 我沒有對 Facebook 頁面做太多改動。

我現在決定將神秘幻想讀書俱樂部 Facebook 頁面用作有關神秘和幻想書籍的部落格。 以此新焦點發表的第一篇文章是關於 Olvidia Yu 所著的以古老新加坡為背景的精彩懸疑系列小說。

我想鼓勵人們閱讀小說。 我還喜歡用大聲朗讀來教英語，也可以將其作為小組活動。 如果您喜歡這個想法，請前往該頁面並點贊，這樣您就可以關注它。 如果您喜歡神秘或幻想小說並想組成線上聊天群，請給我發送 WhatsApp 85296856156 或發送電子郵件至 [email protected]。 謝謝並祝您閱讀愉快！
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1JPcZC7w31/

“The Frangipani Tree Mystery” is the first in a series of 8 mysteries in a chronology set in Singapore starting in 1936. The author, Ovidia Yu, is one of Singapore’s most celebrated writers and she has written both books and plays.

All of the books in the series have a type of tree found in Singapore in the title: “The Frangipani Tree Mystery,” “The Betel Nut Tree Mystery,” “The Paper Bark Tree Mystery,” The Mimosa Tree Mystery,” “The Cannonball Tree Mystery,” “The Mushroom Tree Mystery,” and “The Yellow Rambutan Tree Mystery.” The real history, culture, and environment of Singapore play important roles in all of the books. Though the author’s is economical with words, she makes the reader feel as if he or she right there, seeing, hearing, smelling, and tasting the real Singapore. We also learn a lot about Asian history and culture, yet the books never feel didactic.

The central character and narrator is a young Chinese Singaporean woman named Su Lin. On the surface, she would be easy to dismiss: slight in stature and with a limp from childhood polio, plus she has to deal with both British colonial racism and her own Chinese heritage issues with both her s*x and her handicap. But she is clever and resourceful and manages to maneuver through these challenges. She is undoubtedly one of the most endearing characters in modern literature.

The books are well plotted and paced and the characters vividly drawn. I would recommend them to anyone who likes mysteries, particularly if they would enjoy an adventure in a foreign land with a very likable heroine.

16/02/2025

My student Marcus Wong and I started making this video in 2023 as a project to improve his English. He has a love of the game of Mah Jong is very creative. We worked on it together for several months. He wrote the script on Google Docs and I edited and laid out the video on Final Cut Pro.

Marcus was a high school senior at the time and he was accepted to an Australian university to study architecture and left Hong Kong. The video was unfinished. But he came back recently on holiday and we worked overtime and finished it! I think it is quite original and informative — and funny.

I like PBL (Project-Based Learning): active processes to create something tangible. I also believe that when a person in really interested in something, they will try harder to learn.

It is also critical to finish things. The patience, determination, and tolerance for continuing at something that can be, at times, tedious, is a more important learning experience than the knowledge itself. With the pernicious effects of screen addiction and the mind-numbing from AI-powered everything creating ever more helpless people, this is truer than ever. https://youtu.be/aB-0iU52fi8?si=f3-v3tXHNlDLjGi4

我和我的學生 Marcus Wong 從 2023 年開始製作這個視頻，作為提高他的英語水平的專案。 他熱愛麻將遊戲並且非常有創意。 我們一起為此工作了幾個月。 他在 Google Docs 上撰寫腳本，我在 Final Cut Pro 上編輯和排版影片。

當時馬庫斯是一名高中生，他被一所澳洲大學錄取學習建築學，然後離開了香港。 影片尚未完成。 但他最近休假回來了，我們加班完成了它！ 我認為它非常新穎、內容豐富且有趣。

我喜歡 PBL（基於專案的學習）：積極的過程來創造一些有形的東西。 我也相信，當一個人真正對某件事感興趣時，他們會更努力學習。

完成事情也很重要。 堅持做有時可能很無聊的事情的耐心、決心和寬容，是比知識本身更重要的學習經驗。 由於螢幕成癮的惡劣影響以及人工智慧帶來的精神麻木，人們變得越來越無助，這一事實比以往任何時候都更加真實。https://youtu.be/aB-0iU52fi8?si=f3-v3tXHNlDLjGi4

This video tells the facinating story behind the game of Mah Jong.

10/02/2025

Valentine’s Day was established in the year 496 by Catholic Pope Gelasius. It replaced a Roman holiday called Lupercalia, which was dedicated to love and fertility. It is actually "Saint" Valentine's Day because it was in honor of two (or three) Christians who performed acts of charity and kindness and were executed by the Romans. The romantic love association with St. Valentine’s Day began later, in the 14th Century. The oldest Valentine’s Day love note was written in French in the 15th Century. The Roman god “Cupid” is the fat boy with wings who shoots an arrow to make people fall in love. He was actually the Ancient Greek god “Eros,” but the Romans changed his name.

Of course, the most appropriate flashcard among my Vocabulary Victory English Root Word Cards is number 3, with the bases “Am, Ami, Amicus, and Phil.” The former roots are from the Latin “amor” and the latter from the Ancient Greek “philo.” Some of the derived words, such as the Spanish “amigo” and the adjective “amorous” are easy to understand, but two words, “amateur” and “philosophy,” cause us to pause. We think of an “amateur” as someone who is not professional (or skilled) at something, but it actually means someone who does something for the love of it. A “philosopher” has a love of knowledge. Perhaps in these times of valorizing billionaires and bashing college educations we need to remember the deeper meaning of these words. Love is more valuable without a price tag.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

情人節由天主教教皇Gelasius於496年成立。 它取代了一個叫做Lupercalia的羅馬假期，該假期致力於愛情和生育。它實際上是“聖徒”情人節，因為它是為了紀念兩位（或三位）基督徒執行慈善和善行並被羅馬人處死。.與情人節的戀愛關係始於14世紀晚些時候。 最早的情人節愛情便箋是15世紀用法語寫的。

羅馬神 “Cupid”是個有翅膀的胖男孩，他射箭使人墜入愛河。 他實際上是古希臘神“Eros”，但羅馬人改了名。

當然，我的「詞彙勝利」英語字根卡中最合適的抽認卡是3號，其字根是「Am，Ami，Amicus和Phil」。 前者的字根來自拉丁文“amor”，後者來自古希臘文“philo”。 有些派生詞，如西班牙語的“amigo”和形容詞“amorous”很容易理解，但是“amateur”和“philosophery”這兩個詞卻讓我們陷入了沉思。 我們認為「業餘愛好者」是指對某事不專業（或不熟練）的人，但它實際上指的是因熱愛而做某事的人。 「哲學家」熱愛知識。 也許在這個推崇億萬富翁、批判大學教育的時代，我們需要記住這些話的更深層意義。 愛情沒有價格，卻更加珍貴。

情人節快樂！

22/01/2025

This is a video I made a couple years ago in which I read Steve Antony’s lovely children’s book “Mr. Panda’s Feelings” aloud. I was excited to see it had reached 10,000 views!

Reading aloud by yourself or with your children or with friends is a wonderful way to improve your English. You can learn the intonation — the stress and tones of sentence — and new vocabulary. Children’s literature is great for this because the pictures make it easier to understand — and more fun!

I will make more of these in the future. Subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss any! https://youtu.be/lFYPlwFEygU?si=3yCImA3tqqj6ri3F

這是我幾年前製作的一個視頻，其中我閱讀了史蒂夫·安東尼可愛的兒童讀物“Mr.熊貓的感受」。 看到它的瀏覽量已經達到 10,000 次，我很興奮！

自己大聲朗讀、與孩子或朋友一起大聲朗讀是提升英語能力的好方法。 您可以學習語調（句子的重音和聲調）以及新詞彙。 兒童文學非常適合這種情況，因為圖片使其更容易理解 - 而且更有趣！

我將來會做更多這樣的事。 訂閱我的 YouTube 頻道這樣您就不會錯過任何內容！https://youtu.be/lFYPlwFEygU?si=3yCImA3tqqj6ri3F

This video is Robert Badal reading the book "Mr. Panda's Feelings." This is a wonderful book for toddlers and very young children to practice reading aloud ...

16/01/2025

The particle “up” combined with a verb — and sometimes an additional particle to make a 3 word phrasal verb — is one of the most common phrasal verbs. There are 293 phrasal verbs with “up” and most of them have multiple meanings, depending upon the context in which they are used.

The list of phrasal verbs made with “up” includes: act up, add up, back up, break up, bring up, check up, cheer up, clean up, come up, come up with, dress up, end up, end up with, face up to, finish up, fix up, get up, get on, get on with, go up, go up against, hang up, hold up, jack up, keep up, lap up, let up, mix up, mop up, put up, set up, show up, shut up, take up, talk up, tear up, think up, throw up, turn up, wait up, warm up work up, and others.

Phrasal verbs are a huge topic in English and I will do more posts about them in the future.

小品詞「up」與動詞組合——有時與額外的小品詞一起構成三字短語動詞——是最常見的短語動詞之一。 帶有“up”的短語動詞有 293 個，大多數具有多重含義，取決於使用的​​上下文。

以「up」構成的片語動詞包括：act up, add up, back up, break up, bring up, check up, cheer up, clean up, come up, come up with, dress up, end up, end up with, face up to, finish up, fix up, get up, get on, get on with, go up, go up against, hang up, hold up, jack up, keep up, lap up, let up, mix up, mop up, put up, set up, show up, shut up, take up, talk up, tear up, think up, throw up, turn up, wait up, warm up work up,、暖身工作等等。

片語動詞是英語中一個重要的主題，我以後會寫更多關於它們的文章。

08/01/2025

A phrasal verb is a verb combined with a preposition, such as “in,” “on,” or “with” or an adverb, such as “down” to create a new meaning. The preposition or adjective is called a “particle” when it is used this way.

Phrasal verbs can be confusing for several reasons:

The new meaning usually cannot be guessed or predicted by the individual meaning of the verb and particle.

There are both two and three word phrasal verbs.

Phrasal verbs can often be used by themselves as imperatives (commands or warnings).

Phrasal verbs can have multiple meanings depending on the context in which they are used.

Phrasal verbs can sometimes (but not always) be split, with the object placed between the verb and the particle.

Phrasal verbs can sometimes (but not always) be made into nouns by combining the verb with the particle and changing the stress.

Phrasal verbs usually have a single verb equivalent, but this is not always an exact match in connotation.

Native speakers tend to use phrasal verbs frequently in place of single verb equivalents.

I will write more about this in future posts.

片語動詞是與介詞（如“in”、“on”或“with”）或副詞（如“down”）結合以產生新意義的動詞。 當介詞或形容詞以這種方式使用時，它被稱為“particle”。 片語動詞可能會因以下幾個原因而令人困惑：

新的意義通常是不能透過動詞和詞素的個體意義來猜測或預測的。
有兩個字的片語動詞，也有三個字的片語動詞。
片語動詞通常可以單獨用作祈使句（命令或警告）。
片語動詞根據其使用的上下文可以具有多重含義。
片語動詞有時（但不總是）可以分開，將受詞放在動詞和小品詞之間。
片語動詞有時（但並非總是）可以透過將動詞與小品詞組合並改變重音變成名詞。
片語動詞通常有一個動詞對應詞，但其內涵並不總是完全匹配。
母語人士傾向於頻繁使用片語動詞來代替單一動詞。

我將在今後的貼文中進一步闡述這一點。

31/12/2024

The first month of the year, January (Januarius), was named for the Roman god Ianus. There was no “J” in Latin, it was added to the alphabet during the Renaissance, so Ianus became “Janus.” Janus was the god of doorways. This is why he holds a key. He was first amongst the gods because he guarded access to the gates of heaven. He also presided over transitions—endings and beginnings. This is why he has two faces, one facing the past, one facing the future. All transitions were his purview: the beginnings of human life, passages between stages of life, and progressions from one era to another: births, deaths, weddings, seasonal changes, planting, harvests, and, of course, the new year. Hopefully, January 2025 will be a gateway to a better time…

一年的第一個月一月（Januarius）以羅馬神話中的伊阿努斯（Ianus）命名。拉丁語中沒有“J”，它是在文藝復興時期添加到字母表中的，因此 Ianus 變成了“Janus”。雅努斯 (Janus) 是門之神。這就是他持有鑰匙的原因。他是眾神之首，因為他守護著天堂之門。他也主持了轉變——結束與開始。這就是為什麼他有兩張臉孔，一張面向過去，一張面向未來。所有的轉變都在祂的職權範圍內：人類生命的開始，生命各個階段之間的轉變，以及從一個時代到另一個時代的發展：出生、死亡、婚禮、季節變化、播種、收穫，當然還有新年。希望 2025 年 1 月能成為通往更好時代的大門…

23/12/2024

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

22/12/2024

Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation” is one of time Magazine’s “must read books of 2024” for a reason: it makes clear what the proliferation of smart phones after 2010 — and the accompanying rise in social media — has done to young people.

Dr. Haidt focuses on mental health, but as a teacher who has taught since 2002, I can clearly see the effect on students. This has been well documented in the huge drop in reading and other skills, plus the decline in problem-solving ability and the rise in cheating and other shortcuts to academic success.

All of us can also see the effect of screen-based living on adults as well. A big part of the problem of the decline in young people’s skills and the rise in their mental illness is the absence of parents, who are often absorbed in their own smartphones as well.

“The Anxious Generation” is well researched and well written and is recommended for everyone, whether they have kids or not.

喬納森·海特(Jonathan Haidt) 的《焦慮的一代》被《時代》雜誌評為“2024 年必讀書籍”之一，原因如下：它清楚地表明了2010 年後智慧型手機的普及以及隨之而來的社群媒體的興起對年輕人的影響。

Haidt 博士關注的是心理健康，但作為一名自 2002 年開始教書的老師，我可以清楚地看到這對學生的影響。 閱讀和其他技能的大幅下降、解決問題的能力的下降以及作弊和其他學業成功的捷徑的增多都充分證明了這一點。

我們所有人也都可以看到螢幕生活對成年人的影響。 年輕人技能下降、精神疾病增多的問題很大一部分是由於父母的缺席，他們也經常沉迷於自己的智慧型手機。

《焦慮的世代》研究透徹，文筆流暢，值得所有人閱讀，無論是否有孩子。

15/12/2024

We had a lovely time at a small-group English game party at the coffee shop Kokos in the Mills in Tuen Wan. We played Codenames, an IQ building word-association card game that is always fun — and is great for improving English!

我們在屯灣南豐紗廠咖啡店Kokos參加了一個小組英語遊戲聚會，度過了一段愉快的時光。 我們玩了 Codenames，這是一款可以提高智商的詞語聯想紙牌遊戲，非常有趣，而且對提高英語水平很有幫助！

10/12/2024

As I was saying in the previous post, leaning a 2nd language is difficult. Learning to speak a second language well enough to impress people is even harder.

A good place to start is to think of someone who speaks well in your native language. Aside from the basic correctness of the grammar, what is it about his or her speech that is impressive?

A first observation will be his or her vocabulary.

A second observation will be about how he or she constructs his sentences, paragraphs, and the whole of his or her message.

You might notice that he or she uses literary devices such as similes and metaphors.

And if you listen, you will notice that he or she varies the tone and puts emphasis on certain words. This is called intonation. Intonation is different from pronunciation, though they both are related to the sound of a language. Pronunciation is concerned with the sound of individual words, intonation is concerned with the sound stress and tonality across an entire sentence. It is especially important in English. This is because, though English has a huge number of words, it is a relatively simple SVO — subject, verb, object — word-order language in structure and often meaning is expressed through suprasegmentals — changes in tonality or stress on whole words or phrases.

But changes in sound stress can also be used to change the meaning of words.

This is why coached reading aloud — reading a story out loud and having a teacher correct both your pronunciation errors and coach you how to get the sentence intonation right will really help you to have more impressive spoken English. I will write more about this in upcoming posts.

正如我在上一篇文章中所說，學習第二語言很困難。 學習說好第二語言以給人留下深刻印象更是困難。

一個好的起點是想一個能說一口流利的母語的人。 除了文法基本上正確之外，他或她的演講還有哪些令人印象深刻的地方？

第一個觀察將是他或她的詞彙量。

第二個觀察是關於他或她如何建構他或她的句子、段落以及他或她的整個訊息。

您可能會注意到他或她使用明喻和隱喻等文學手段。

如果你傾聽，你會注意到他或她會改變語氣並強調某些單字。 這稱為語調。 語調與發音不同，儘管它們都與語言的聲音有關。 發音與單字的聲音有關，語調與整個句子的聲音重音和調性有關。這在英語中尤其重要。 這是因為，雖然英語有大量的單詞，但它是一個相對簡單的SVO（主詞、動詞、賓語），結構上是詞序語言，並且通常通過超段來表達含義（整個單詞或短語的調性或重音的變化） 。

但聲音重音的變化也可以用來改變單字的意思。

這就是為什麼指導朗讀——大聲朗讀一個故事，讓老師糾正你的發音錯誤並指導你如何正確的句子語調將真正幫助你獲得更令人印象深刻的英語口語。 我將在接下來的帖子中詳細介紹這一點。

03/12/2024

People learning English ask me this question a lot — though usually without the word “educated.” But this is what they really want to know. There are plenty of English “native speakers” whose speech is pretty bad — mostly because they don’t really know their own language.

If you are serious about speaking quality English — and it is not your 1st language — the first thing you must realize is that if you were not raised in an English-speaking environment, the process you have undertaken is difficult. If you are younger than age 9, you could acquire an unlimited number of languages because this age is called “The Critical Period for Language Acquisition.” As we get past this age, Language “Acquisition” is gradually replaced by Language “Learning,” which is a completely different, and more difficult, process. I will write about this in a later post.

But if you are a 2nd language learner of English, think about the thousands of different ways you have used your own language, from simple, everyday moments, to complex situations. And think about your schooling, in which you learned every subject in your home language. If your goal is to speak like an educated native speaker, you are attempting to duplicate the result of tens of thousands of hours of input and output in a few hours per week of lessons.

And your ESL teacher may or may not be an educated native speaker and may or may not be a language instruction professional. Besides asking your teacher about his or her qualifications, the next most important question to ask would be how much reading does he or she do?

The undiscussed part of ESL is reading, specifically fiction. Stories are part of being human and reading improves the mind — and the language a person uses — more than almost anything else. There is considerable neurological evidence that it actually changes the structure of the brain. People who read books are smarter than people who do not. And people who read fiction have bigger vocabularies and can express themselves in more interesting and effective ways than non-readers of fiction.

I will write more about this in the next posts.

學習英語的人經常問我這個問題——儘管通常沒有「受過教育」這個詞。 但這才是他們真正想知道的。 有很多英語「母語人士」的演講非常糟糕——主要是因為他們並不真正了解自己的語言。

如果你真的想講高品質的英語——而且這不是你的第一語言——你必須意識到的第一件事是，如果你不是在英語環境中長大的，那麼你所採取的過程就會很困難。 如果你小於9歲，你可以習得無限多種語言，因為這個年齡層被稱為「語言習得關鍵期」。 當我們過了這個年齡，語言「習得」逐漸被語言「學習」取代，這是一個完全不同的、更困難的過程。 我會在後面的文章寫這一點。

但如果您是英語的第二語言學習者，請想想您使用自己的語言的數千種不同方式，從簡單的日常時刻到複雜的情況。 想想你的學校教育，你用母語學習了每一門科目。 如果您的目標是像受過教育的母語人士一樣說話，那麼您正試圖在每週幾個小時的課程中複製數萬小時輸入和輸出的結果。

您的 ESL 老師可能是也可能不是受過教育的母語人士，也可能是也可能不是語言教學專業人員。 除了詢問你的老師他或她的資格之外，下一個最重要的問題是他或她讀了多少？

ESL 中未討論的部分是閱讀，特別是小說。 故事是人類的一部分，閱讀比其他任何事情都更能改善思維和一個人使用的語言。 有大量神經學證據表明它實際上改變了大腦的結構。 讀書的人比不讀書的人聰明。 讀小說的人比不讀小說的人擁有更多的詞彙量，能夠以更有趣、更有效的方式表達自己。

我將在接下來的文章中詳細介紹這一點。

26/11/2024

I became a teacher after being a professional writer for many years. I exceeded the minimum English BA requirements at CSUN and completed both the Literature and Teaching Credential options, plus a Minor in Linguistics — and a univeristy TESOL certificate. I continued on to get California Adult Teaching Credentials in both English and ESL from UCLA. I was also awarded a Japanese High School Teaching License. Going further, I got a Masters Degree in Humanities and Creative Writing from CSUDH, which I petitioned to combine with MBA coursework. Adding to this is a Certificate in Phonics Instruction from the University of Bristol. I have published and presented research in Japan and Korea and recently won the Bronze Medal for my first English teaching product, the Vocabulary Victory English Root Word Cards. It is my intension to pursue a Phd at this point. I always invite people to check out the “About” page on my website, https: //blseducation.com to see the documentation of my qualifications and my references. Whoever you choose to be your English teacher, you should always ask to see their qualifications and check their references. It’s more than about just having degrees, it’s about a teacher’s commitment to and respect for, education.

當了多年的專業作家後，我成為了一名教師。 我超越了 CSUN 英語學士學位的最低要求，並完成了文學和教學證書選項，還輔修了語言學，並獲得了大學 TESOL 證書。 我繼續從加州大學洛杉磯分校獲得了加州成人英語和 ESL 教學證書。 我還獲得了日本高中教師資格證。 更進一步，我獲得了 CSUDH 的人文與創意寫作碩士學位，並申請將其與 MBA 課程結合。 除此之外，還有布里斯託大學頒發的自然拼讀法教學證書。 我在日本和韓國發表並發表了研究成果，最近我的第一個英語教學產品「詞彙勝利英語根詞卡」獲得了銅獎。 我現在的打算是攻讀博士學位。 我總是邀請人們查看我的網站 https://blseducation.com 上的「關於」頁面，查看我的資格和推薦人的文檔。 無論您選擇誰作為您的英語老師，您都應該始終要求查看他們的資格並檢查他們的推薦信。 這不僅僅是擁有學位，而是教師對教育的承諾和尊重。