2011-12-18 Potluck at Jerry's workshop

Here are the pictures taken by Jerry at the potluck of the CI class at his workshop on December 18th, 2011.
There was a lot of great food and Abbie played the guitar and led us to sing lots of classic songs. What a wonderful evening!
From right to left:
Karen, Abbie, Ammar, Taiya, Iris, Tony, Jerry, Ray, Zaili, Barrett, Hogan
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Potluck for CI Class

Hi there! Time really flies and it's almost the end of this semester.

Our teacher, Abbie, arranged this special event for us and we'll gather at Jerry's work place from 5-8PM, on December 18th. Each of us will bring one or more dishes to share.

Here's the list of our dishes for the special gathering:

Abbie: salty black bean soup and music

Tony: hand-made dumplings

Hogan: a pot of stew (beef, dried tofu, seaweed, eggs)

Ray: traditional snacks

Jerry: aromatic coffee

Zalie: beef soup

Ammar: mandarin oranges

Taiya: fried rice noodles / oil rice

Barrett: a bottle of green plum wine

Here are the dishes we've decided and more dishes or desserts are very welcome as well.

Let's meet then!


C.I. class 12/15: Music (and Sports too!)‏ from Abbie

Hi Everybody, 

On Thursday, 12/15, we'll hear the remaining Sports presentations, and then we'll launch into our new theme of Music.  Some of us like making music, and almost all of us love listening to music, and I'm sure that on Thursday, everyone will have something to share with us about this universal theme!   

Then, on Sunday, 12/18, we'll be meeting for our special class potluck.  

The following week, on 12/22, I'd like to open up the floor for special presentations on any topic you'd like to talk about!  I've learned so much from all of you this semester; I hope you'll take this opportunity to share with us about something that you love, or a unique experience that you've had, or an idea or happening that you feel is important, or any topic at all that interests you!   

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2011-12-08 Sports

Tonight our topic was transfered from education to sport.

Tony mentioned that winning metals in Olympics in some countries can bring a big fortune. In Singapore, winning a gold metal is worth about 5 million RMB which is about $20,000,000NT(A LOT).

Jonas talked about the top 4 national sports leagues in North America such as NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL. The professional players in the NBA have the highest average salaries among these 4 leagues but the seasonal games didn't start as schedule this year due to the strike organized by the players. Money talks!

To our surprise, Zaili was an outstanding well-trained 400m sprinter and won lots of medals for her university. She told us that her parents supported her and respected her own decision between athletic and academic paths. She also pointed out that building a good foundation of health while young is very principal.

A report shared by Jerry from the Ministry of the Education said that almost 50% of middle school and elementary school students lack exercise. It suggests that we should follow these 3 principles: 3 times a week, 30 mintues every time, and 130 heartbeats per minute. Jerry also told us that he used to go hiking with his two daughters on weekends but it's difficult to maintain the healthy habit these days because the schoolwork is getting much heavier than before.

Hiking and trekking were brought to the discussion by Ammar and he emphasied that those two are the best type of exercise for people. Andrea said that the lifestyle of Japan is really healthy and she'd like to spend a year living in the Japanese way.

As for the conclusion, Abbie was really surprised about that the students in Taiwan are struggling to keep doing the things they really love and are forced to just focus on studies by the parents. It's actually a common phenomenon in Taiwan and most of the students have to learn by taking a lot of tests. Sometimes, we can't help but think what's the best way for our children and whether the reformation of the system of education works properly!?

Ideas for 12/08/2011 C.I. class:Sports from teacher Abbie

Dear C.I. class!  

Last Thursday, we talked a lot about the different learning styles, and how they affect learners, and finally we discussed whether high school entrance should be test-score based.  Thanks everyone for your participation!!  

This Thursday, 12/8, our topic is Sports.  

I look forward to all of your presentations!   

Here's a brain storm on the topic...  in some cases I'm including links to interesting articles, but don't feel you have to read them all; just choose the ones that interest you!  

* Sports and Ethics!: 
Here's an article about soccer and ethics: "Is it okay to cheat in football?"  (Here, "football" means "soccer!!"  :D )  http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/singer64/English
This article asks whether the only ethical rule in sports is "win at all costs."  

*  Sports and Money 

Related to our discussions of Occupy Wall Street and capitalism, here's an interesting article comparing soccer to politics and economy!  (In this article, again, the term "English football" means "soccer!")  It's about "an unsustainable system where the rich win and the poor go to the wall;" you can also find it in the Taipei Times under the title "Soccer reveals rampant capitalism."  (The term "go to the wall" means "fail.")      

* Paralympics and Sports for the Disabled: 

The Paralympics are Olympic style games for athletes with a disability. See http://www.paralympic.org/Paralympic_Games/  for more details on the paralympics.

Here's a story about a wheelchair bound woman who competed internationally in hand cycling, until a cycling accident caused her to regain the use of her legs.  She has been an outstanding Paralympic athlete, and now she wants to go to the Olympics.  

Here's a shorter article about this athlete: 

And here's a longer article about her: 

* Sports and the Brain


Sports (watching or playing!) can enhance language skills...!  

* Introduce an Unusual Sport... 

... such as Kabaddi, a 4000 year old game from India!: 

In recent headlines:  "Kabaddi World Cup Hit by Doping" 

... which brings us to: 

* Sports and Doping (Drugs in Sports) 

Other possible topic directions include... 

* Team sports vs. individual sports

* Martial Arts

* the Olympics

* Sports in Schools

* Track and Field; Swimming; Ice Skating; Gymnastics; Archery; Basketball; Skiing...  
your observations or stories about any sport!  

* Great Athletes, past or present  

* World Records in Sports

* Masters Games (where people compete by age group) 

* How to Play Ping Pong (or Basketball or Hockey or any sport!) 

* Sports and Games from Childhood 

* Your Own Sports Experiences 

* Spectator Sports 

* Popular Sports in Taiwan 

I look forward to seeing everyone on Thursday, and I'm hoping for a wide variety of presentations!

CI Class 12/01/2011: Education: Learning Styles and various debates

It was a great class this week AGAIN although some of our classmates couldn't make it to class this time. The temperature dropped down below 15C but the atmosphere was warm and relaxed. We all got something to share!

Teacher Abbie started the class by helping us discover  what type of learner we are and talked about the features and differences among these 4 types of learning styles. Each of us got to contribute our own special learning experience and then Abbie offered us a question to think about. How do you learn to use the computer with visual, auditory, tactile and kinetic ways? After that, we concluded that learning always comes along with a combination of methods.

At the second half of class, Abbie brought up the topic about the efficiency and fairness of the test-based high school entrance examination. Tests do help to push us to study for not being flunked but it doesn't guarantee that we can learn something from it. Most of us burn the midnight oil the night before the test and what we cram into our brains usually doesn't stay in it for a long time. Jerry mentioned that we're supposed to be like "live to learn" but we're going on the opposite direction on the contrary. Most students in Taiwan learn or study just for tests and they're not having fun learning. However, some of us still got something to talk about, but unfortunately we ran out of time.

Here are some websites to help you find out what type of learniing style you use:
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