General English Proficiency Test (GEPT)

The General English Proficiency Test (GEPT) is a test of English language proficiency that was commissioned by Taiwan's Ministry of Education in 1999. The following Skill-Areas will be tested:

　 Listening

Understand general conversation in daily life situations and grasp the general meaning of public announcements, weather forecasts, and advertisements. At work, he/she can understand simple product introductions and operating instructions. He/she can catch the general meaning of native English speakers' conversations and inquiries.
　

Reading

Read short essays, short stories, personal letters, advertisements, leaflets, brochures, and instruction manuals. At work, he/she can read job-related information, company notices and operation manuals, as well as routine documents, faxes, telegrams and e-mail messages.
　

Writing

Write simple messages and narratives. He/she can write about things he/she has learned and use simple English to write about his/her own experiences or about topics with which he/she is familiar.
　

Speaking

Use simple English to discuss or describe general daily life topics, introduce his/her daily life, work, family, and experiences, and state his/her outlook on general topics. At work, he/she can ask and answer basic questions and can carry on basic conversations with native English speakers in social settings.

Interview with Jelling Lai, a student from Taipei, Taiwan

As I am an Indiana University graduate, I thought this would encourage students to enjoy learning English.
You will hear ( to read click on the transcript link) a long but interesting interview with Jelling Lai, a student from Taipei, Taiwan who studied her masters at Indiana University Bloomington, School of Public and Environmental Affairs. As you listen you will practice your listening skills.

To listen to the click on the link:

Student Stories Project: Jelling Lai

Read the transcript

Many thanks to Virgil T. DeVault Alumni Center| 1000 E. 17th Street, Bloomington, IN 47408-1521 |

The differences between the American and the British English!

Spelling has always been a problem in the English language even for native speakers. Most foreigners assume that native speakers always know how to spell a word but that’s not true. You may try to sound it out, but even then you may not get the spelling right . However, the more you read and write in English the easier it will get.

Spelling gets even more confusing if you encounter the differences between the American and the British English.

Below I try to given you some examples of the main differences between American and British English spellings :

• Some words in American English that end often end in -er (e.g. center, fiber, theater) end in British English in -re (centre, fibre, theatre).

• Other words in American English that end in -or (e.g. color, humor) usually end -our with in British English (colour, humour).

• Then verbs in American English that are always spelled with –ize (e.g. recognize)are then spelled in British English with either -ize or -ise at the end (e.g. recognize/recognise).

• On the other hand verbs in British English that end in -yse (e.g. analyse) are then always spelled -yze in American English (analyze).

• While in American English the l is not doubled verbs ending in a vowel (travel, traveled, traveler), in British spelling however, the l doubles when adding endings that begin with a vowel (e.g. travel, travelled, traveller).

• British English words that are spelled with the double vowels ae or oe (e.g. archaeology, manoeuvre) are just spelled with an e in American English (archeology, maneuver).

• Some nouns that end with -ence in British English (e.g. licence, defence) are spelled -ense in American English (license, defense).

· Some nouns that end with -ogue in British English (e.g. dialogue) end with -og in American English (dialog).

I hope that these examples are clearing up some of the confusions you have encountered while learning or reading English. I know we teach our students one spelling (in J.R. American School the American one) and then students ask me why it is suddenly spelled different some where else.

Study Resources on the Internet

Students kept asking me if there are any more links on the Internet to study English. Well, one very good page is Learning English from the BBC. Then if you want to practice your listening skills, Teacher Bills video page might be a good source. I know there are many more other ones on the Internet. However, most of my students are Taiwanese. For these students the page from the Municipal Hou-Jing Junior High School (後勁國中) in Kaohsiung English Department might be a good source. It has lots of exercise pages. Have fun and good luck in your studies.

ETS to start written, spoken English tests

Thursday, December 13, 2007
by The China Post Taiwan's leading English-language newspaper


TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The U.S.-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) will begin from January 2008 to prepare English skill tests in speaking and writing for enterprises in Taiwan, in a drive to improve English skills, the Taiwan representative of the ETS Taiwan branch said yesterday.

Wang Hsing-wei held a press conference in Taipei to announce the new tests, which are part of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) targeting working people, alongside tests in listening and reading.

Wang said more and more local people need to speak or write in English at work, so the ETS developed the tests to meet enterprises' need for employees with English fluency, Wang noted.

The new TOEIC tests will be available for group applicants from January and for individual applicants from August, with the examinees required to take the tests on a computer, according to the ETC office.

What about my accent?

When I was learning Spanish or French as a student, I found that the best way to acquire a good accent was to imitate good models of the standard language. However, I also asked myself what does it mean “standard”? There is South American Spanish and then there is the Spanish from Spain. Both are slightly different. The same problem appears in French. Canadians speak different from the people in France.

You will encounter the same problem in English. There is the American English, the British English, Canadian English, the Australian English and so on.
Well, I just have to say I don’t think any accent will be ever a problem unless other people have difficulty in understanding it. And if you do find that other people don’t understand your accent, ask them which words are causing the problems and work on these problems.

However, if you still think you have to improve your accent, you should increase listening to the spoken English. Pay close attention to the meaning and the patterns of intonation. Then try to imitate this intonation.

So I would advise you to choose one or more of your favorite native English speakers (go with your preference) on the radio, on the internet, on audiotape or on video (check out Teacher Bill's videos) and spend as much time as possible listening and imitating what they say.
Make recordings of your favorite programs and then play them back in short sections. You should even try to record yourself and compare the pronunciation, stress and intonation patterns of the speaker(s) with your own.

However, if everyone can understand your accent already, then relax and just enjoy the chance to communicate in English!

Email, SMS, and Online Chat

For my students and anyone who like to learn some thinks used in the electronic text communication such as email, posting to online chat rooms and newsgroups, and SMS (Short Messaging Service) messages between mobile phones. This way you don't get confused if you suddenly see only letters or symbols ( as typically used for emotions representing a facial expression).
This lists are a courtesy of www.askoxford.com !

Abbreviations
Some of the more established abbreviations used in all types of electronic communication are listed below:

@	at	MOB	mobile
AFAIK	as far as I know	MSG	message
AFK	away from the keyboard	MYOB	mind your own business
ASL	age, sex, location	NE1	anyone
ATB	all the best	NOYB	none of your business
B	be	NO1	no one
BAK	back at the keyboard	OTOH	on the other hand
BBL	be back late(r)	OIC	oh I see
BCNU	be seeing you	PCM	please call me
BFN	bye for now	PLS	please
B4	before	PPL	people
BRB	be right back	R	are
BTW	by the way	ROTF(L)	rolling on the floor (laughing)
C	see	RUOK	are you okay?
CUL8R	see you later	SIT	stay in touch
F2F	face to face	SOM1	someone
F2T	free to talk	SPK	speak
FWIW	for what it¿s worth	TTYL	talk to you later
FYI	for your information	TX	thanks
GAL	get a life	U	you
GR8	great	WAN2	want to
HAND	have a nice day	W/	with
H8	hate	WKND	weekend
HSIK	how should I know?	WU	what's up?
HTH	hope this helps	X	kiss
IANAL	I am not a lawyer, but - (as a disclaimer)	XLNT	excellent
IMHO	in my humble opinion	XOXOX	hugs and kisses
IMO	in my opinion	YMMV	your mileage may vary (i.e. your experience may differ)
IOW	in other words	YR	your
JIC	just in case	2	to, too
JK	just kidding	2DAY	today
KIT	keep in touch	2MORO	tomorrow
KWIM	know what I mean	2NITE	tonight
L8R	later	3SUM	threesome
LOL	lots of luck / laughing out loud	4	for

Emoticons
Emoticons typically represent a facial expression and are used chiefly to mark the tone of the preceding sentence or to indicate the writer's feelings. The following are some of the more commonly seen:

:-)	happy (a 'smiley')	:-(	unhappy
:-D	laughing	:-||	angry
;-)	winking; just kidding	:-V	shouting
:-*	kiss	|-O	yawning
:-o	surprised	:-Q	I don't understand
:-(	frowning	:-&	tongue-tied
:-c	very unhappy	:-X	my lips are sealed
X=	fngers crossed	:-P	sticking one's tongue out
:'-(	crying	:-/	sceptical
:-|	bored, indifferent	:-Y	aside comment

Learning a foreign language takes time

Learning a foreign language occurs incremental. Thus it takes time for the brain to grow new cell to store and handle a new language. It is absorbed (or not absorbed) in doses, and runs from zero to whatever ceiling is reached.

Children naturally learn no fewer than 500 words by the age of 2 years. This happens as Skinner, a behavioral psychologist, explained through a process that uses of positive and negative reinforcement. This reinforcement can occur in school but also a home. Parents play a vital role in their children’s learning process.

Changes are gradual and occur at different rates for different people and in different aspects of learning.

At first, beginners understand little and produce nothing. (Something we all might agree with.) Then gradually they understand individual words, fixed formulas, and disconnected items in speech or text. There is often little creative scope, frustration is common, and regular praise and reassurance are essential.

Translation is constant and often obvious. Generally, learning to understand is faster than learning to express. (Thus listening to a language is important.)Performance is usually poor at this stage and dominated by the mother tongue. Children are trying to translate from Chinese into English.

At the next stage, learners begin to produce their own phrases and sentences. They become able to use their own creativity and make mental connections (sometimes correct, often wrong, and constantly developing) between items already encountered and partly learned. They make guesses what things mean, or how they might be expressed, and modify them in the light of experience.

At the following stage, many learners stop. They become frustrated because the feel they are unable to express what they think in their own language.

This is the time (usually around Junior High School level) to especially motivate students again. It is the level at which the performance skills (speaking and writing) often improve rapidly without being obvious to the student, given opportunity, stimulation, and time for assimilation.

Then the learners have reached the advanced stage. They start using their own creativity, seeking skillful selections of meaning and subtleties of their culture, to incorporate them into the new learned language. All going well, the inner translation continues to decline and the fluency, speed, and accuracy continue to develop.

At this level, many learners achieve a close approximation to the skills of the native speaker of the target language.

The Pleasure of Being a Teacher

Just recently I ran into one of my former students. He was in one of my first classes I had taught at J.R. American School.

I had just gotten onto a bus and had sat down, when suddenly a young man next to me asked me, if I would still remember him.

Although, I was not able to recall his name, I noticed a familiarity. (It isn’t easy to recognize a high school student you had taught when he was still in elementary school.) Nonetheless, it was a pleasure to discover that he still remembered me and to hear that he had done well since he had left our school. He had done so well, that he is now preparing to take the entrance exam to the National Taiwanese University.

This episode reminded me again that my work as teacher will affect the life of my students. Being able to influence the life of others in a positive way give me great pleasure! It gives me furthermore the energy to strive to become a better teacher and friend.

To all the Students

If you are trying to learn English, use all the resources you can get. First find a friend, either in real life or on the internet, to practice your skills no matter how small your skills are. Repetition is what builds memory and thus the brain cells, which are responsible for learning a language. Don’t get caught up on trying to learn a specific accent. It does not matter if you learn with an American, British, Australian or any other English speaking person. Important is that you use what you have learned.

I have included some links to two useful websites. One is Teacher Bills Blog. This blog is especially useful for people who want to improve their listening skills. The other one is Learning English, a great resource page from the BBC. It offers a vast range of activities. Just click yourself to the part you like best. I will add more links in the future.

Lastly, utilize chat programs such as Skype, MSN, or Yahoo to chat with English speaking people for free. The great think of these programs is that you don’t even have to leave your home.

So, now, go on and have fun. The more you enjoy learning, the faster you will improve. Ask questions! Become actively involved!

The Role of Parents

Parents play a very important role in the learning process of their children. As children spend only a few hours studying English at school, additional time has to be devoted at home to practice. Doing homework does not only mean doing the written work assigned by a teacher but also spending time practicing what has been learned. Students should spend some time (e.g. 10 to 30 minutes) every day listening to the audio material (CD or tape-recording accompanying their books etc.).

The research of Cognitive Psychologists, as the ones published on the Science Daily Website, shows that learning a language starts with intense listening. During the seven years I have taught ESL, I have noticed that students, who listen to their audio material daily and interact with their parents in English, are the ones who speak English fluently. However, to persuade children to listen to their audio materials daily needs the support of their family. Constant encouragements and praise (not punishments) are needed. Therefore, parents play a very important role in the learning process of their children.

The Teacher

I have been teaching ESL for twenty years now.

It is an interesting occupation. I had never thought, I would teach for so many years and then at the same school (Cummings English School). Why? Well, one of the most rewarding things about teaching is to see the seeds you're plantings grow and eventually bear fruits. I have seen students grow from the time when they came to our school as a four year old child until they went to high-school, by which time they often do not find the time to attend a cram-school for English anymore. Some of my students, who had left, returned after years to tell me about how I had positively changed their life. Not only in respect to their English abilities but also in respect to how they have seen their life and life in general differently since attending my classes. Attending our school has opened their minds beyond the borders of Taiwan.

No matter how small these changes or success stories are, these are the moments that give you the energy, that you need to teach a group of often unmotivated students, who have been forced by their parents to attend English school, and teach them English with joy.

It would be nice if some other Teachers would share their thoughts but also some the students to use their courage and write their thoughts in English here.