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LEARN TO SWIM

LEARN TO SWIM

Throw a baby in the water. Watch them struggle to get to the surface. Watch them struggle to stay on the surface. Watch them figure out how to stay on the surface without struggling. No baby drowns.  That is how we teach a baby to swim in the west.

You have been thrown [...]

Unreachable/Unteachable

UNREACHABLE AND UNTEACHABLE STUDENTS

Every Chinese college and university has them, from top tier down to the bottom 4th tier.Usually every class has at least one and the unlucky teacher may be saddled with several. Occasionally, an entire class may be beyond reach.

No matter what the pedagogy, the methodology, the materials; there are some students who [...]

CAN U THINK?

EDITOR’S NOTE: THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WAS NOT WRITTEN  BY PROFESSOR MARTIN WOLFF AND THERE IS NO COMMENT BY HIM EITHER.

It’s True, Asians Can’t Think, by Sin-ming Shaw,.May, 31, 1999  Time magazine article

Until it abandons its twisted Confucianism, the region will trail the West.

Quoted:

Can Asians think?  That is not a racist slur.  It’s the title of [...]

Eat a Bowl of Tea

This movie is about pressure and motivation.

A study in culture bridging, including … a new US-born husband, trying to work within the traditional ways, a new China-born wife, eager to join the “dream” of America, two family-minded fathers, lots of gender-related social bifurcations.

What did you learn from this movie?

Hotel Rwanda

Black on Black violence in Africa

What did you learn from this love story?

The War of The Roses

This movie is about lust, marriage and divorce.

The Roses, Barbara and Oliver, live happily as a married couple. Then she starts to wonder what life would be like without Oliver, and likes what she sees. Both want to stay in the house, and so they begin a campaign to force each other to leave. In [...]

Coach Carter

This movie is about accepting responsibility for your own education and not blaming your school, school leaders, teachers, environment or parents for your own faults.

COACH CARTER tells the inspiring true story of controversial high school basketball coach making headlines for his emphasis on the importance of academics over athletics

What did you learn from this movie?

Gung Ho

This movie is about cross-cultural relationships.

Western conflicts with Japanese culture. When a Japanese car company buys an American plant, the American liaison must mediate the clash of work attitudes between the foreign management and native labor.

What did you learn from this movie?

Working Girl

This movie is about Intellectual property Protection.

What did you learn from this movie?

STUDENTS’ LACK OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AWARENESS

Martin Wolff

Sun Yat-sen University

INTRODUCTION

Intellectual Property Protection remains a hot topic in China. The west applies constant pressure on China for more enforcement and China responds with increased enrollment in law schools, retention of more prosecutors and [...]

THE TERMINAL

The Hollywood movie “The Terminal” is an interesting story that unintentionally demonstrates the principles of 2nd language acquisition. When surrounded with an English environment, you absorb the language from your environment. You listen to more English, read more English, write more English and speak more English.

Chinese students studying English in China are surrounded with a [...]