My Christmas Wish: A Kiss-Gun

Myth 6. There are no studies linking violent video game play to serious aggression. 

Facts: High levels of violent video game exposure have been linked to delinquency, fighting at school and during free play periods, and violent criminal behavior (e.g., self-reported assault, robbery). (found here)

Spot the difference

One thing I'll always remember from sixth grade was my social studies teacher, Mrs. Diamond. She looked old enough to have witnessed the crossing of the Delaware river and she ran a tight ship. Especially when compared to the cool, new, young math teacher who was closer to my age than to most of her colleagues, Mrs. Diamond scared kids.

Scary Jack o' Lantern!

Check out this Jack o' Lantern I carved at my school's Halloween party.
I Google'd "scary jack o' lantern" and found one I liked and made improvements on it.

Happy Halloween!

I don't teach. I liberate.

"Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it."

  - Michelangelo 

The Duck Hunt Incident

Approximately fifteen years ago I was sitting in my house playing the game "Duck Hunt" on my Nintendo Entertainment System. For those who don't remember, instead of the traditional rectangular controller, Duck Hunt had a special controller that was actually a gun, or the "NES Zapper."

Parenting Awards

Can you think of a word to describe a person who has the following thought process:

When Blogs Attack

Man, I love blogging.

But honestly, if there's one thing I love more than blogging, it's when people blog about me and don't even tell me! Especially when somebody challenges me to do something! How unfair is that?

Recently, on his blog, a scientist named Bruno

The Finger Prince

Teacher John: A "clue" is something that helps the police or a detective solve a case. That's why Sherlock Holmes is always holding a magnifying glass, so he can look for clues. For example, a piece of hair can be a clue. What else might be a clue?

ESL Student: The finger's here (motioning towards the tip of the finger).

Teacher John: That's right! Those are called "fingerprints." Fingerprints can definitely be a clue.

ESL Student: Teacher John, is there a "finger princess?"

EPA: "Idling OK in Moderation"

The EPA recently banned vehicles for idling for over three minutes (story here). After reading this story, I couldn’t help but notice the many absurdities surrounding this new regulation.

The EPA openly admits that “Emissions from motor vehicles are the main source of air contaminants in urban areas and have a severe impact on air quality and public health,” yet at the same time is condoning

Revolution Against Pollution

Dear Idle-Free Taipei supporters-

First of all, for those who haven't heard, Idle-Free Taipei was entered in a Carbon-Reducing contest (held by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Bureau of Energy) and we placed 3rd overall!!! 

Second,

Taiwan Bucket List

I live near Shi Da Night Market in one of those top-floor apartments without a mailbox. Cockroaches the size of my thumb have the run of the place, and a couple buildings block my view of Taipei 101. On summer nights, sweat leaks into my bed linens, and in the winter I wear a scarf to bed. This is Taiwan.

Taipei 101 still wins

Although Taipei 101 has recently lost the title of "Tallest Building in the World" to Burj Dubai (just barely, see graph below), the bamboo-shaped building in Taiwan's capital city still has a few things left to boast about. 

Letter to the Editor

As it appeared in Taipei Times:

‘Idle-free’ is catching on

Two months ago I wrote a letter to this newspaper calling out for people to “support an idle-free Taipei” (Letter, May 17, page 8). I ended the letter with a plea to people out there that not only care, but also are proactive. Fortunately, some people contacted me and helped Idle-Free Taipei grow.

Swim Rage!

[Disclaimer: I swam competitively for almost 15 years, which means I'm used to swimming in a lane with maybe only 5 or 6 other people that swim around the same speed as me. Taiwan is the FIRST place I've ever swum by myself in a public pool during open swim hours.]

Here are some things I've learned about swimming in Taipei, mostly at Daan Sports Center. (Note that these observations have taken place at only 2 pools in Taipei, so please don't misconstrue this as a rant against any group of people.)

Clean Air Promotion

Saturday, July 2
9:00 AM- 2:00 PM
Please join Idle-Free Taipei in this educational promotion event!

Many people are unaware that idling engines cost money! In fact, in the Taipei City area alone, almost $900,000 worth of fuel

Clean Air: You Deserve It!

Imagine this:

You are walking down the street with a friend, and he falls down. Somehow he manages to cut his leg open on a piece of glass, and he is bleeding profusely. You immediately realize he needs to be rushed to a hospital, as the wound can only be closed with stitches. You have three options:

Idling scooters are nutritious??

This is in response to a blog post written by one Michael Fagan (his words in green), who apparently wasn’t a fan of my letter to the editor in the Taipei Times. Although his blog post was peppered with positive feedback about the cause, “The proposition itself is as sensible as it is simple,” he wasn’t satisfied with the language I used in the letter.

I used to word “campaign” to describe the actions I’m taking (which largely consist of a website, Facebook fan page and a Facebook event) towards reaching an Idle-Free Taipei.

Fagan’s interpretation of the word “campaign” stirred up thoughts of a “military metaphor,” as he went on to say that “that’s distinctly uncivil.”

Idle-Free Taipei

If you are a scooter driver, this is a rare opportunity. With the simple turn of a key, you are not only saving yourself money, but you are also taking a step towards a cleaner Taipei.


The next time you are stopped at a traffic light for more than 15 seconds,

Soccer vs. Football vs. Rugby

This post is in reference to some particular games that involve people playing in a field, on foot, with a goal of somehow getting a ball to the opponent's side of the field. These sports go by any of these names:

• Football
• Soccer
• Rugby
• (American) Football

Here is the history-

Yellow Fever and 白人看不懂

Here's a funny take on the mystery of Asian (female) and Caucasian (male) couples.

A Wong Fu Productions film.

Day 6: A washout

5/30
I think I keep losing focus on my goal for this trip... I was thinking I could stick it out in the rain... I would have missed some great scenery along the way.

Animal Cruelty in Taiwan

I just recently went to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Taipei. While I, among thousands of others, have already witnessed a fair amount of animal cruelty in Taiwan, it appears that artist Chang Li-shang has decided to take an alternative form of action:

Day 5: Taroko Gorge

5/29
I can't imagine being at Taroko without a scooter. It was so easy for me to zip around the bus traffic and pull over whenever I felt a picturesque moment. On that note, there is no justice in pictures of this place.

Day 4: Backtracking

6:00 AM. No rain. Lots of roosters (or other animals with loud noises). OK sleep. Spent the night being paranoid about sounds and a truck that parked near my scooter. Not sure what to do today after I return from Wai'ao. Maybe head straight for Taroko.

The Ultimate Map

10 days of scootering down the east coast of Taiwan.

Here's what I wrote about it.

Here's how I did it:

He said "gao wan!"

If you know for a fact that nobody around you can hear/understand what you're saying, that's basically a free pass to talk about whatever you want. This applies to people who go hiking by themselves, adults who talk about "grown up things" in front of the kids, friends who have code words for other people, and people in the U.S. who speak any language other then English. This also applies for Taiwanese students in the presence of their English teacher who doesn't know any Chinese. The difference is, recently I am able to understand a lot of what they are saying, and they don't know!!

"The History and Evolution of the Peace Sign"

I just found this video, thought you'd like to see it:

Baby, it's cold inside!

This month marks my completion of 2 years in Taiwan. I was going through my blog archives, starting from the beginning, and got a little nostalgic. In particular, I found my expectations of the weather prior to my arrival pretty interesting:

Forgive me...

for I have sinned. This post is to confess my disrespect towards Taiwanese culture and the Chinese-English language. It's shameful to say that there are too many instances to list, but nothing is more shameful than the reason for this is because I disrespect the Taiwanese for a living.

One of my 3 year old students: "Teacher John, my home has blue cock."

My response: "You can say: I have a blue clock at home."

In retrospect, I wish I had asked my student whether or not he believes his house can have possessions, asked him what he believed a "cock"is, and then respected his choice to call a mechanism used for keeping time a "cock."

4 Reasons Why You aren't an ESL Teacher

Here is the latest addition to the debate between a white middle class male English teacher, a 6 year old Taiwanese ESL student, and a white middle class female teacher (the comments keep getting deleted, but I received them in pieces, so I'm not sure if they are 100% accurate in terms of the intended order of paragraphs):

Tomato or Tomato?

(3 episodes)

Episode 1:

Step 1: Know the Rules, Step 2: Break 'em

A comment in response to this post

"You probably should have taken some classes in understanding different cultures before you went over there.

more supporting evidence

click here to see posts leading up to this

In Chinese-English intercultural communication, kinship terms often present problems because satisfactory equivalents are not always available... The Chinese practice is generally , but not always, to use 公，母 to show whether a creature is male or female. In English, more specific terms are often used, including terms for the young.

Step 1: Recognize the issue, Step 2: Make relevant arguments

"...words in both languages that appear to refer to the same object or concept on the surface, but actually refer to quite different things."

A comment on my most recent post was accidentally deleted, but I wouldn't want to deprive anyone that may be following this debate (click here to see all the posts leading up to this). I've recovered the comment, which is displayed here, and below that is my response.

I understand what you believe to be true comes from your understanding of New York and Taiwan culture because these are the only places you have been.

Step 1: Know the Rules, Step 2: Break 'em

A comment in response to this post:

"You probably should have taken some classes in understanding different cultures before you went over there.

There are plenty of "English-speakers" who use that exact terminology. Different cultures say different things- who are you to be the judge of what is correct or incorrect? Because it is in the dictionary??? If everyone spoke using words and meanings strictly from the dictionary, that would include some pretty boring conversations and no differences between cultures and areas. I am guessing you are looking for cookie-cutter speakers throughout the world?

Transliteration

Transliteration is how languages adopt words from other languages using their own characters. For example, Taiwan, Taipei, lo mein, won ton, and ramen are all transliterations from Asian languages.

In other words, nobody wanted to create a new English word for them, so we stole the words and used the ABCs to spell it. They do the same thing in Chinese.

Here's a fun Transliteration game:

Directly Translated 3

I have to keep stressing the fact that the direct translations I'm brining up aren't actually translated incorrectly. They do have a tendency to be used incorrectly, though, so there are plenty of instances where it will be incorrect. Like this example:

Just like Aunties and Uncles, any person that is maybe a little bit older than you can be called "older sister" or "older brother." This especially includes cousins. While there is a word for cousin, it is much more common to hear an older female cousin referred to as, "older sister," directly translated.

Once, back in the days of the Squirrel Class,

Directly Translated 2

Here's something interesting that my recent Chinese studies have led me to. Presented below is a list of 3 Chinese characters and their English meanings.

Watch carefully...

Directly Translated

I am a teacher of the English language. My job description is pretty clear: teach English. The way this differs from a translation website or a dictionary is that, although some things CAN be directly translated, it doesn't always sound right.

So my job is not only to teach English, but to make sure it's being used properly. Here's how things can get interesting:

White Noise

Someone once asked me why I like living in Taiwan. Of all the dozens of reasons I could have named, I responded, "Because it's quiet."

Even though the subway, the buses, the streets, the food courts, the restaurants, etc. are usually rammed with people, as a foreigner, I still find peace and quiet in all of these places. My brain hasn't been programmed (yet) to understand the Chinese language, therefore it doesn't ask my ears to do the useless task of trying to listen. After about a minute or 2

Strawberry Fields

As a rule of thumb, I'll eat just about anything that's pink. Candy, cake, bread, you name it. The chances are it's strawberry flavored.

Last year, the word got out that strawberries/strawberry flavored foods rank somewhere in my Top 1 Favorite Foods list, and my students brought me tons of strawberry food items for my birthday. If it was customary to give kindergarten students letter grades, of course they would have all gotten A's.

Last weekend

100 Years*

A bit of history to make up for the posting drought? Why not?

As witnessed by TONS of people (just ask Karen) on the streets in Taipei, there were some pretty impressive fireworks to celebrate the opening minute of 2011.

Worldwide, the eve of 2011 was just another night of partying in preparation for another year for failed resolutions.

For some, 2011 was more significant.