Thursday, August 25, 2011
If I Were in Your Shoes
If I were in your shoes, I would not wash my feet;
If I were in your shoes, I would wear them even when taking a shower;
If I were in your shoes, I would wear them even when sleeping in bed;
If I were in your shoes, I would wear them day and night;
If I were in your shoes, I would wear them 7/24;
If I were in your shoes, I would wear them in an earthquake!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Earthquake Jokes
1. When the quake took place at around 2 pm today, I was listening to music and shaking my legs.Then I felt the whole room was shaking. "Damn, this apartment is too weak to withstand the shaking of my legs.I am in trouble now." I said to myself.
2. I felt the tremor when the earthquake happened today. when I realized that it was caused by an earthquake, I evacuated from the building quickly. And a guy next to me said :" If God kills me like that, I will never go to church again !"
3. Right after the quake, my roommate called a girl:"If we were doomed to experience a devastating quake tomorrow, will you settle for a guy like me?" The girl replied calmly: "Over my dead body."
2. I felt the tremor when the earthquake happened today. when I realized that it was caused by an earthquake, I evacuated from the building quickly. And a guy next to me said :" If God kills me like that, I will never go to church again !"
3. Right after the quake, my roommate called a girl:"If we were doomed to experience a devastating quake tomorrow, will you settle for a guy like me?" The girl replied calmly: "Over my dead body."
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Let’s Make It Simple
Last night, I saw a math problem posted by a facebook friend: “One day, a young man came to Betty’s store. He wanted to buy a teddy bear with the price of $21, and the original cost of it was $18. The man gave Betty a bill of $100. Betty had a bill of $100 with her only, so she had no changes for it. So she went to her neighbor David to break the $100 bill and gave $79 change to the young man. However, David found out later that the $100 bill was counterfeit money. As a result, David returned the counterfeit $100 bill to Betty and got the real $100 bill from her. The question is: How much did Betty lose in this transaction?”
"一天有個年輕人來到王老板的店裏買了一件禮物 這件禮物成本是18元，標價是21元。 結果是這個年輕人掏出100元要買這件禮物。王老板當時只有100元, 没有零錢，用那100元向街坊换了100元的零錢，找給年輕人79元。 但是街坊後來發現那100元是假鈔，王老板無奈還了街坊100元。現在問題是：王老板在這次交易中到底損失了多少錢 ? "
The answer is as follows:
Before the transaction took place, Betty had a bill of $100 and a teddy bear with the original cost of $18. That is to say, she had $118 in total. After she went to her neighbor David to break the $100 bill and gave $79 change and the teddy bear to the young man, she had : $(218-79-18)=$121. When David returned the counterfeit $100 bill to Betty and got the real $100 bill from him, Betty had $121-$100= $21. Therefore, Betty’s total lost was $(118-21)=$97.
"答案是： 當王老板沒有買賣時假設有是 $118本金 ($100現金+$18成本)
當有人同佢買時,佢就用拿左個年青人的假$100去換真$100,所以佢現時有$218
之後佢就找左$79比個年青人及比左價值$18的商品比佢,所以佢而家有$(218-79-18)=$121。 之後街坊見到係假錢就問左佢拿返$100,所以佢而家得$21
本金$(118-21)=$97，所以佢係無左$97"
Actually there is a very simple way to solve this math problem. Betty received $100 of counterfeit money. That means she lost $100 of real money. Her teddy bear cost her $18 and she sold it to that young man at the price of $21, that means she made $3 out of that transaction. Therefore, her total lost is $100- $3= $97. The rest of the information was just distracting, so we should ignore it.
The most efficient way of solving a problem, in my opinion, is to focus on the key issues without being distracted by minor issues and supplementary information. This mentality is applicable to not only solving math problems but also reading comprehension questions. I have been teaching the GRE and the SAT reading for a few years. And I try to simplify the reading part of those tests via two things. One is. to simplify the sentence structure through identifying the subject and the predicate, and the other is to paraphrase the difficult words into simple ones.
For example, here is a long sentence in a GRE reading passage: “The first and most important rule of legitimate or popular government, that is to say, of government whose object is the good of the people, is therefore, as I have observed, to follow in everything the general will. “
The subject of this sentence is “the rule” , and the predicate is “ is… to follow… the will.” The rest is just distracting supplementary information. Therefore, this sentence can be simplified and rewritten as : “The number one rule of a government is to follow the will of the majority.”
Another example. Here is a GRE question prompt: “The author’s argument that destroying mosquitoes would be a beneficial action is most weakened by all of the following except----.”
My paraphrase of this sentence is: “The author’s argument is that it is good to kill mosquitoes. Which one of the following does not weaken that argument?”
Sometimes life can be messy and complicated. Let’s make it simple. :)
Sorry, a Sunday morning in the summer time is supposed to be relaxing. How about this—my cousin came back from a math class and told me that he had just discovered something: Quick Fact: 10/6 of all people do not master fractions. :)
"一天有個年輕人來到王老板的店裏買了一件禮物 這件禮物成本是18元，標價是21元。 結果是這個年輕人掏出100元要買這件禮物。王老板當時只有100元, 没有零錢，用那100元向街坊换了100元的零錢，找給年輕人79元。 但是街坊後來發現那100元是假鈔，王老板無奈還了街坊100元。現在問題是：王老板在這次交易中到底損失了多少錢 ? "
The answer is as follows:
Before the transaction took place, Betty had a bill of $100 and a teddy bear with the original cost of $18. That is to say, she had $118 in total. After she went to her neighbor David to break the $100 bill and gave $79 change and the teddy bear to the young man, she had : $(218-79-18)=$121. When David returned the counterfeit $100 bill to Betty and got the real $100 bill from him, Betty had $121-$100= $21. Therefore, Betty’s total lost was $(118-21)=$97.
"答案是： 當王老板沒有買賣時假設有是 $118本金 ($100現金+$18成本)
當有人同佢買時,佢就用拿左個年青人的假$100去換真$100,所以佢現時有$218
之後佢就找左$79比個年青人及比左價值$18的商品比佢,所以佢而家有$(218-79-18)=$121。 之後街坊見到係假錢就問左佢拿返$100,所以佢而家得$21
本金$(118-21)=$97，所以佢係無左$97"
Actually there is a very simple way to solve this math problem. Betty received $100 of counterfeit money. That means she lost $100 of real money. Her teddy bear cost her $18 and she sold it to that young man at the price of $21, that means she made $3 out of that transaction. Therefore, her total lost is $100- $3= $97. The rest of the information was just distracting, so we should ignore it.
The most efficient way of solving a problem, in my opinion, is to focus on the key issues without being distracted by minor issues and supplementary information. This mentality is applicable to not only solving math problems but also reading comprehension questions. I have been teaching the GRE and the SAT reading for a few years. And I try to simplify the reading part of those tests via two things. One is. to simplify the sentence structure through identifying the subject and the predicate, and the other is to paraphrase the difficult words into simple ones.
For example, here is a long sentence in a GRE reading passage: “The first and most important rule of legitimate or popular government, that is to say, of government whose object is the good of the people, is therefore, as I have observed, to follow in everything the general will. “
The subject of this sentence is “the rule” , and the predicate is “ is… to follow… the will.” The rest is just distracting supplementary information. Therefore, this sentence can be simplified and rewritten as : “The number one rule of a government is to follow the will of the majority.”
Another example. Here is a GRE question prompt: “The author’s argument that destroying mosquitoes would be a beneficial action is most weakened by all of the following except----.”
My paraphrase of this sentence is: “The author’s argument is that it is good to kill mosquitoes. Which one of the following does not weaken that argument?”
Sometimes life can be messy and complicated. Let’s make it simple. :)
Sorry, a Sunday morning in the summer time is supposed to be relaxing. How about this—my cousin came back from a math class and told me that he had just discovered something: Quick Fact: 10/6 of all people do not master fractions. :)
Thursday, August 11, 2011
A Report on Harvard Professors
The other day, I read a news report with the title:
Six Harvard Law School professors and six ideas worth spreading, in 60 minutes
http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/spotlight/faculty-research/hls-thinks-big-2011.html?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
After reading that report, I had some questions and comments as follows:
1. As far as statutory interpretation is concerned, should legal language be precise and specific or open-ended and generalizable? Why?
2. Harvard Law School professor Jon Hanson argues “that understanding what determines people’s behavior may be the most important question for law in the future.” People’s behavior is determined by their needs, I think. With regards to needs, I could think of such things as Maslow's hierarchy of needs as well as human needs/aspirations for wealth, sex, fame, power, love, recognition/acceptance, release of negative feelings, and avoiding punishments.
3. In some sense, “everybody can learn, and everybody can teach.” Everyone can learn in their own way and at their own pace. On the other hand, everyone has something to share or teach. Even failures can teach us lessons.
4. It feels good to be approved, accepted, and appreciated by smart people. In contrast, we can imagine how it feels to be despised by dumb guys who think we are dumber. No offense, just a thought.
Six Harvard Law School professors and six ideas worth spreading, in 60 minutes
http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/spotlight/faculty-research/hls-thinks-big-2011.html?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
After reading that report, I had some questions and comments as follows:
1. As far as statutory interpretation is concerned, should legal language be precise and specific or open-ended and generalizable? Why?
2. Harvard Law School professor Jon Hanson argues “that understanding what determines people’s behavior may be the most important question for law in the future.” People’s behavior is determined by their needs, I think. With regards to needs, I could think of such things as Maslow's hierarchy of needs as well as human needs/aspirations for wealth, sex, fame, power, love, recognition/acceptance, release of negative feelings, and avoiding punishments.
3. In some sense, “everybody can learn, and everybody can teach.” Everyone can learn in their own way and at their own pace. On the other hand, everyone has something to share or teach. Even failures can teach us lessons.
4. It feels good to be approved, accepted, and appreciated by smart people. In contrast, we can imagine how it feels to be despised by dumb guys who think we are dumber. No offense, just a thought.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Academic Conferences
In the Spring semester of 2011,I had eight presentations at international and national academic conferences in the US.I presented:
three workshops/papers at the Applied Linguistics winter conference on Feb 12th, at Columbia University,NY,
three workshops/papers at College Conference on Composition and Communication (CCCC), Atlanta, Georgia, USA , April 6-9th,
and two papers at the Writing Research Across Borders II conference at George Mason University in Northern Virginia/Washington D.C., February 17-20th, 2011.
I got to share my research and teaching tips with people who are interested in my topics and received constructive feedback from them.Furthermore, I was inspired by other presenters and learned from them. Last but not least, conferences are also good for networking with colleagues and mentors.Below are some photos taken at those conferences.
I finally got to meet professor Dana Ferris in person ! :-)
A book of hers was used in one of our graduate classes at NYU.
Below is her web page:
http://writing.ucdavis.edu/faculty-staff/directory/drferris
Professor Brain Street is a renowned scholar in the field of Applied Linguistics.
Below is his web page:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/education/people/academic/streetb.aspx
With prof. Charles Bazerman,Chair of the conference, who addressed the relationship between cognition and context of composition in his session.
I got to share my research ideas with Dr.Christine Tardy,the co-editor of Journal of Second Language Writing.I ran into Dr.Xiaoye You at these conferences multiple times. Xiaoye is associate professor of English at Penn State University. We were both Ph.D. students in the English Dept. of Purdue Univ. back in 2003.How time flies!
Xiaoye was presenting his new book that won the CCCC 2011 book award!
Here is his web page
http://www.personal.psu.edu/xuy10/
Discussing research with super nice professor Sigmund Ongstad from Norway.
I was excited to see professor Tony Silva again! He was my professor at Purdue and the reason I went to Purdue for my PhD study in Rhetoric and Composition!
As one of the pioneers in the field of Rhetoric and Composition,
Professor Janice Lauer was Reece McGee Distinguished Professor of English, Emerita at Purdue University.She founded and directed a doctoral program. Lots of professors in the field were her former students.
I was presenting my paper...
Presenting my poster paper
I was conducting a workshop at Columbia University in Feb. 2011
three workshops/papers at the Applied Linguistics winter conference on Feb 12th, at Columbia University,NY,
three workshops/papers at College Conference on Composition and Communication (CCCC), Atlanta, Georgia, USA , April 6-9th,
and two papers at the Writing Research Across Borders II conference at George Mason University in Northern Virginia/Washington D.C., February 17-20th, 2011.
I got to share my research and teaching tips with people who are interested in my topics and received constructive feedback from them.Furthermore, I was inspired by other presenters and learned from them. Last but not least, conferences are also good for networking with colleagues and mentors.Below are some photos taken at those conferences.
I finally got to meet professor Dana Ferris in person ! :-)
A book of hers was used in one of our graduate classes at NYU.
Below is her web page:
http://writing.ucdavis.edu/faculty-staff/directory/drferris
Professor Brain Street is a renowned scholar in the field of Applied Linguistics.
Below is his web page:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/education/people/academic/streetb.aspx
With prof. Charles Bazerman,Chair of the conference, who addressed the relationship between cognition and context of composition in his session.
I got to share my research ideas with Dr.Christine Tardy,the co-editor of Journal of Second Language Writing.I ran into Dr.Xiaoye You at these conferences multiple times. Xiaoye is associate professor of English at Penn State University. We were both Ph.D. students in the English Dept. of Purdue Univ. back in 2003.How time flies!
Xiaoye was presenting his new book that won the CCCC 2011 book award!
Here is his web page
http://www.personal.psu.edu/xuy10/
Discussing research with super nice professor Sigmund Ongstad from Norway.
I was excited to see professor Tony Silva again! He was my professor at Purdue and the reason I went to Purdue for my PhD study in Rhetoric and Composition!
As one of the pioneers in the field of Rhetoric and Composition,
Professor Janice Lauer was Reece McGee Distinguished Professor of English, Emerita at Purdue University.She founded and directed a doctoral program. Lots of professors in the field were her former students.
I was presenting my paper...
I was conducting a workshop at Columbia University in Feb. 2011
Photos at Workshops
I conducted a workshop on collaborative strategic reading at the Applied Linguistics conference at Columbia University in Feb. 2011 and presented two research papers there.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
NYU Ph.D. Teaches SAT Preparation
Throughout my 11 years of teaching, I developed effective strategies to help my students increase their SAT vocabulary. Moreover, I taught them systematic test taking skills to handle SAT sentence completion, reading comprehension, and grammar questions. I am now offering SAT preparation workshops/tutorials to illustrate all these strategies and skills through working with my students on lots of examples of SAT test questions. In addition, I also address how to write effective SAT essays with composing strategies and essay templates.
I. Powerful ways to build SAT vocabulary (50- 100 words a day)
through the association method:
Synonyms
antonyms
similar spellings
roots, prefix, suffix
categories
making sentences
A SAT word list of 1000 words is compiled for the convenience of my students. They will learn those words in groups rather than one by one.
For example, below is a group of synonyms with the meaning ”using too many words”:
Loquacious circumlocutory prolix
Garrulous verbose voluble
Longwinded periphrastic
Using the association method above (the details will be covered later), my students may learn and memorize these words in just a few minutes. And they may learn up to 10 groups of words a day! It is amazingly effective!
2. How to approach SAT sentence completion questions quickly and effectively?
Identify transitional words (e.g. but, however, though)
Identify key words (the predicate), synonyms, and antonyms
Identify the logical relationship (consistent VS opposite) between parts of the sentence
Pay attention to the tone (negative VS positive adverbs) of the author
Pay attention to collocation of phrases
Use prior knowledge of the subject matter and common sense
Eliminate wrong answers
For example…
3. How to approach reading comprehension quickly and effectively?
Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph to identify the main idea
Identify the key words in the first and last sentences
Identify the logical relationship between key words, sentences, and paragraphs
Simplify the main ideas and the wording through paraphrase
Subject+predicate= main idea
Double negative=positive
Delete distracting supplementary information
(e.g. attributive clauses)
Pay attention to transitions, names, time, and subjunctive mood
Identify the locations of the question prompts and answer choices in the passage
The correct answer is usually a paraphrase of the main idea or a sentence in the passage
For example…
4. To approach the SAT grammar questions, it is helpful to refer to a list of 18 types of common grammatical errors: 1: Unclear Sentences; 2: Fragments; 3: Run-ons; 4: Comma Splices; 5: Verbs; 6: Singular/Plural; 7: Subject-Verb Agreement; 8: Noun-Pronoun Agreement; 9: Word Order; 10: Prepositions; 11: Articles … For example…
5. The SAT essay workshops/tutorials will cover such topics as:
essay templates, prompt analysis, formulating arguments and using examples ( through brainstorming, freewriting, content development, organization, outlining, drafting, thesis statement, topic sentences, introduction, conclusion, critical thinking,) using synonyms, sentence structure and variation, grammar, and word choice.
II. The SAT prep workshops/tutorials last for 8 hours in total for the reading part and 6 hours for the writing part. The hourly rates can be anywhere between $65 to $85, depending on the content and your needs.
If you come together with a friend to join the prep workshops,
both of you can receive a 10% discount for tuition.
For a group of 3 people, everyone gets a 15% discount.
As an experienced instructor (fourth year Ph.D.Candidate at New York University),I usually conduct the workshops/tutorials at Queen's library in Elmhurst, Queens. I achieved a score of 710/800 (98% or top 2 percent) on the verbal part of the GRE and was offered admissions to Ivy League schools three times.
For further information, please email Mike at yx269@nyu.edu
Also, please check these out:
My workshops on speed reading and academic writing
http://www.alivenotdead.com/ucyh/Approaching-a-New-Subject-profile-1306579.html
Photos of workshops conducted at Columbia University in Feb. 2011:
http://www.alivenotdead.com/ucyh/Photos-at-Workshops-profile-1385160.html
Photos taken at academic conferences:
http://www.alivenotdead.com/ucyh/Academic-Conferences-profile-1385521.html
A list of my workshops/presentations on my web page :
http://papertalks.org/p/c/Teams/EditorView_C.aspx?AccountPk=160
Thank you！
I. Powerful ways to build SAT vocabulary (50- 100 words a day)
through the association method:
Synonyms
antonyms
similar spellings
roots, prefix, suffix
categories
making sentences
A SAT word list of 1000 words is compiled for the convenience of my students. They will learn those words in groups rather than one by one.
For example, below is a group of synonyms with the meaning ”using too many words”:
Loquacious circumlocutory prolix
Garrulous verbose voluble
Longwinded periphrastic
Using the association method above (the details will be covered later), my students may learn and memorize these words in just a few minutes. And they may learn up to 10 groups of words a day! It is amazingly effective!
2. How to approach SAT sentence completion questions quickly and effectively?
Identify transitional words (e.g. but, however, though)
Identify key words (the predicate), synonyms, and antonyms
Identify the logical relationship (consistent VS opposite) between parts of the sentence
Pay attention to the tone (negative VS positive adverbs) of the author
Pay attention to collocation of phrases
Use prior knowledge of the subject matter and common sense
Eliminate wrong answers
For example…
3. How to approach reading comprehension quickly and effectively?
Read the first and last sentence of each paragraph to identify the main idea
Identify the key words in the first and last sentences
Identify the logical relationship between key words, sentences, and paragraphs
Simplify the main ideas and the wording through paraphrase
Subject+predicate= main idea
Double negative=positive
Delete distracting supplementary information
(e.g. attributive clauses)
Pay attention to transitions, names, time, and subjunctive mood
Identify the locations of the question prompts and answer choices in the passage
The correct answer is usually a paraphrase of the main idea or a sentence in the passage
For example…
4. To approach the SAT grammar questions, it is helpful to refer to a list of 18 types of common grammatical errors: 1: Unclear Sentences; 2: Fragments; 3: Run-ons; 4: Comma Splices; 5: Verbs; 6: Singular/Plural; 7: Subject-Verb Agreement; 8: Noun-Pronoun Agreement; 9: Word Order; 10: Prepositions; 11: Articles … For example…
5. The SAT essay workshops/tutorials will cover such topics as:
essay templates, prompt analysis, formulating arguments and using examples ( through brainstorming, freewriting, content development, organization, outlining, drafting, thesis statement, topic sentences, introduction, conclusion, critical thinking,) using synonyms, sentence structure and variation, grammar, and word choice.
II. The SAT prep workshops/tutorials last for 8 hours in total for the reading part and 6 hours for the writing part. The hourly rates can be anywhere between $65 to $85, depending on the content and your needs.
If you come together with a friend to join the prep workshops,
both of you can receive a 10% discount for tuition.
For a group of 3 people, everyone gets a 15% discount.
As an experienced instructor (fourth year Ph.D.Candidate at New York University),I usually conduct the workshops/tutorials at Queen's library in Elmhurst, Queens. I achieved a score of 710/800 (98% or top 2 percent) on the verbal part of the GRE and was offered admissions to Ivy League schools three times.
For further information, please email Mike at yx269@nyu.edu
Also, please check these out:
My workshops on speed reading and academic writing
http://www.alivenotdead.com/ucyh/Approaching-a-New-Subject-profile-1306579.html
Photos of workshops conducted at Columbia University in Feb. 2011:
http://www.alivenotdead.com/ucyh/Photos-at-Workshops-profile-1385160.html
Photos taken at academic conferences:
http://www.alivenotdead.com/ucyh/Academic-Conferences-profile-1385521.html
A list of my workshops/presentations on my web page :
http://papertalks.org/p/c/Teams/EditorView_C.aspx?AccountPk=160
Thank you！
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