And Bill is…a 60-year old Vietnamese who learned his English from movies:
Archive for the 'motivation' Category
Meet Bill from Saigon
June 23, 2008Learn from the Young Writers
May 16, 2008Since 1973, Stone Soup has published the selective stories, poems, and book reviews written by the young writers of age 8 to 13. The stories and poems are original and good, especially given that how young the authors are.
And each story has an unique voice, literally. The Stone Soup website presents the recordings of the featured stories it published in the past, read by the authors. It’s a great fun to listen. Each recording comes with the transcript, too.
Those young aspiring writers are not Hemingways yet, but they express themselves well. You can learn a great deal from their writings and readings.
The Last Lecture, Act Three
May 14, 2008Here is the latest act from Prof. Randy Pausch of Carnegie-Mellon University. He wrote a book with Jeff Zaslow, a reporter of Wall Street Journal, titled “The Last Lecture“. He talked about why he did it:
Think English is Hard to Learn?
May 7, 2008Think again!
Importance of learning a second language
April 20, 2008The Sundy laugh:
Learn with a Pitcher’s Mind
April 3, 2008The New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote about Pitching with Purpose, citing a sport psychiatrist’s book called “The Mental ABC’s of Pitching”. Brooks is not a sport writer. The article goes beyond how to master the craft of pitching baseball.
Mastering a second language is very much like mastering a craft of any sport. When studying a new language, you can learn as much as, if not more, from the mental game of a pitch than from an ESL teacher.
As it turns out, talent or courage has less to do with the greatness of a pitcher. It’s the discipline. The book author asserted this way:
“Self-discipline is a form of freedom. Freedom from laziness and lethargy, freedom from expectations and demands of others, freedom from weakness and fear — and doubt.”
Now, go after that freedom relentlessly.
Inch by Inch, Play by Play
March 26, 2008Al Pacino is talking about the football play. Or is he?
Practice, Practice, and Practice
March 9, 2008That’s how Tiger Woods has gotten to where he is. He talked about his success and passion with Ed Bradley in the CBS’s 60 Minutes program.
part 1
Part 2
The Monetary Value of Speaking English Well
February 23, 2008For most non-native speakers, speaking English well has its intrinsic value. It builds your self-confidence and rewards you with a satisfaction of an accomplishment. For many, it comes with a monetary value too.
How much more do you expect to earn if you speak English as a second language very well? A recent article in Forbes magazine, titled The Most Popular Foreign Languages, offers a clue:
But no matter which language they study, the income gains for native English speakers learning a foreign tongue are tiny compared with the gains for non-English-speaking immigrants who learn English.
Aimee Chin, an associate professor in the economics department at the University of Houston, has found that immigrants to the U.S. who transition from speaking English “well” to “very well” have seen their wages rise by 30%.
Chin’s research, published in 2003, evaluated earnings of individuals who had emigrated to the U.S. as children and eventually entered the job market. Chin and her co-author found that compared to a person who speaks English poorly, those who have mastered it earn 67% more.
Well, not a bad return if you invest in improving your spoken English. It surely beats the stock market even during the period of an irrational exuberance.
(You can read the full article at the Forbes’ site)
The Last Lecture, Act Two
February 11, 2008We posted the Last Lecture by Prof. Randy Pausch of Carnegie-Mellon University before. He later went on to the Oprah Winfrey Show and gave a ten-minute talk, the short-version of his lecture at the University.
Again, we love it and can’t get enough of it. So here it is:
