Comics and comic strips have long been used as media of teaching, but in the context of ESL, studies have focused on speaking and reading and not writing. Researches on the use of comic strips in adult ESL writing lessons are scarce, if not non‐existed. This paper presents the findings of a case study on the use of comic strips in two adult ESL writing lessons in Hong Kong. Data analysis shows that the use of comic strips in such context is feasible and would receive popularity if certain criteria are met. Learners showed appreciation for the mnemonic property of comic strips in assisting them learn new words.
Key findings revealed
a direct relation between the level of enjoyment and the level of inspiration of a comic,
learners' ability to use personification is directly related to their view of suitability of using comic in writing,
lower level English learners do not find peer writing or group discussion useful,
lower level English learners have difficulties relating the acquired knowledge in the activity back to their daily life,
lower level English learners are less adventurous in experimenting new ideas or/and new sentence structures,
grammar‐translation method still has big impact on HK adult ESL learners,
grammar acts as an opposing force to creativity for lower level English learners
Opinions:
For those of you who would like to read academic papers written by me. Hope this will be useful for those of you researching in related areas as well.
Resources: The Use of Comic Strip in Writing in Hong Kong Adult ESL Learners @ Locky's English Playground
It all began when I bought my Olympus PEN E-PL1. I have a new camera, so I can offer my Canon IXUS 860 IS to my sister as a gift, which although is an old model, is in a perfect shape, and so she was more than happy to receive it. Then a few days ago, when I borrowed it to take a few pictures of the gifts from my students, the LCD showed a huge dark spot! I asked my sister if she had broken it but she insisted not. Well, I can't possibly give her a camera that will self-destruct in a month or two! So, I thought, I can either sell it or fix it. If I sell it, I have to pay extra to buy her a new one, but the resell value will be super low since the LCD is broken. If I fix it, I will need to pay a lot of money for sending it back to Canon and my sister will have to wait for years to get it back.
Could there be another way?
Well, an idea came out of nowhere, I logged on to Alibaba.com and did my search, and I found this JQ Electronics company hanging at the very top. I said 4th year Golden Supplier, and minimum order is 1 piece!!! So I went inside and emailed the lady in the contact. She got back to me quickly and offered me a great price,
JQ Electronics @ Alibaba.com
"the lcd for Canon ixus 860 price is in USD$40.5/pcs,the shipping cost is USD$4.6 by ShunFeng. Is it ok?"
Sounds like a bargain! Although later I found out that the ShunFeng Express (SF Express) should actually be free, but I suppose the packing also requires a few dollars, anyway, it isn't a lot, so I went for it. The lady offered me an HSBC bank account to deposit the money, but I wasn't very comfortable with it, so I ordered through the ESCROW system, which is something like Paypal, so that if I am not happy with the product, I don't need to pay the money. This is because I will need to confirm on the web again if I am satisfied with the product before the company can get their cash from me. So, it is a safe move!
She also promised me that the LCD will arrive in 4 days! That's quick! And she kept her promise, the deliver man came twice because the first time I wasn't home, and so he came again the next day morning.
It was well packed! And I was like a happy little boy in Christmas morning, opening wrappers layers after layers.
Now, the last step is, how do I know what to do to change the LCD by myself? Well, if you need an interactive answer, ask YouTube! And I found this supposedly German author video:
DIY, Do It Yourself! Helped me save a lot of money! Now, I have a brand new Canon once again! Cheap and make my sister happy! So if you have any electronic devices problems and you have a man at home, I highly recommend you to visit Alibaba or this JQ Electronics website for the parts you need! They are really trustworthy and efficient!
JQ Electronics Website
So does that mean online shopping is completely safe? Well, not really, you will have to be careful with Phising websites. What are Phising websites and why do you need to be careful? Then you will need to read this news if you want to know!
Trains~~~! Trains, Trains, Trains~! Who likes trains here? Hands up! Well, I'm not a big fan of trains, but I always welcome high-tech trains like the ones in Japan. Remember that I wrote Travelling and Living: Locky's Trip to Tokyo (Part 3 -- Trains) ? That definitely gave me some great impressions. The LCD displays of stations,
LCD Display of stations
Image from Locky's English Playground
of weather,
LCD Display of stations
Image from Locky's English Playground
phone-free quietness even when there is a lot of people,
and the deluxe trains,
Tokyo, Shinagawa, Ginza -- Inside JR
Image from Samantha Chiang
... are all the things better than the MTR in Hong Kong.
How about Chinese trains? Here's a video to practise your listening skills and learn something about the trains in China.
The high speed train you saw from the video, called CRH380A, "is the first high-speed train developed using Chinese homegrown technologies"[1] and "is designed to operate at a cruise speed of 350 km/h and a maximum of 380 km/h in commercial service. The original 8-car trainset has recorded a top speed of 416.6 km/h during trial run and the longer 16-car trainset has recorded a top speed of 486.1 km/h".[1]
JR-Maglev EDS suspension is due to the magnetic fields induced either side of the vehicle by the passage of the vehicles superconducting magnets.
Image from Wikipedia
But it is NOT a Maglev train, short form for magnetic levitation, which means that the train is actually floated by electromagnets. (The picture about roughly explains how suspension / floating can be achieved.)
Maglev trains are even faster and can travel up to over 500km/h!!![2] If you want to try riding on it, the best place to go is Shanghai, where the Shanghai Maglev Train runs from Longyang Road station in Pudong to Pudong International Airport.[3]
Next time if I happen to visit Japan again, or China if chances come, I would want to try out these awesome trains!I guess the Shinkansen sounds more likely for me in the short run. (Reminds me of the TopGear Nissan GT-R vs Bullet Train challenge!)
Look after the customers and the business will take care of itself. - Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's Corporation
I learn this quote from the introduction of the movie, Supersize Me, and I think this is perhaps the biggest irony on this planet and the most sarcastic remark ever in the history of this planet. Well, it wasn't a sarcasm at first, it was sincere and well-meant, then McDonald's got sidetracked from the founder's words......
1954 was the year Ray Kroc changed the world with McDonald's, then which year McDonald's changed its menu? I have no idea, but in Tokyo, there is always something new!
JANUARY 12, 2011, 12:19 PM JST
McDonald’s ‘Texas 2 Burger’: The Spice of the Lone Star State
By Yoree Koh
Clocking in at a sound 645 calories, the Texas 2 Burger is like jumping off the nutritional cliff. But that didn’t prevent slim Japanese men and women of all ages to dive into the chili melt when it hit McDonald’s menus last Friday.
McDonald’s
Meet the Texas 2 Burger, the first of four burgers from McDonald’s to be sold in Japan as a part of its “Big America 2″ campaign.
“I really loved the Texas Burger last year so I couldn’t wait to try the new one,” said Satoshi Tanaka, a 38-year-old engineer standing outside a McDonald’s outlet in the haute Ginza neighborhood in Tokyo on Jan. 7, the big launch day. Mr. Tanaka was among the many hungry patrons crowded into the pristine long counters during lunch rush hour , with a large silver box stamped with “Texas 2” open before him. One customer had dozed off, having likely surrendered to an inevitable food coma.
McDonald’s Japan launched the Texas 2 Burger as part of its “Big America 2” campaign, an encore to its successful crusade that named beef patties after U.S. locales last year. And among the four-burger series, the Texas Burger was the only one to get a younger brother. The other burgers – the California, Hawaii, and New York — were replaced with equally extravagant creations named Idaho, Miami and Manhattan this year.
If, as they say, everything is indeed bigger in Texas, then this creation inspired by the Lone Star state is no different. The Texas 2 Burger is a towering stack with chili, cheese, bacon, onion and a mustard relish sauce packed between the three buns. Taking a bite of the sandwich is akin to having the entire school lunch buffet on sloppy joe day explode in your mouth. It was a rioting mouthful. But the chili was undoubtedly the lead topping. It was almost too overpowering: the taste of the chili lingered even after two sticks of gum.
Yoree Koh/The Wall Street Journal
An advertisement of the Texas 2 Burger in the window of a Mcdonald’s outlet located in Tokyo’s Ginza neighborhood on Jan. 7.
The chili is what makes this year’s Texas burger different from the original. And it seems the Texas burger part deuxhas fallen victim to the curse of the sequel. Its attempt to shake things up with the whole bean chili left some excited customers craving the barbecue flavored mustard sauce swirled on top of the original Texas.
“I wouldn’t say I didn’t like it, but it didn’t meet my expectations,” said Mr. Tanaka, adding the chili overpowered the rest of the burger. It was a review echoed by 74-year-old Yasutsuru Mori. “The sauce is what made it great last time,” said the self-described burger lover after he scarfed it down over the weekend.
Perhaps Japan wasn’t yet ready for the spice of Texas.
Vocabulary:
irony -- (n) [U]
a means of expression which suggests a different, usually humorous or angry, meaning for the words used
sarcastic -- (adj)(UK informalsarky)
using sarcasm
sarcasm -- (n) [U]
the use of remarks which clearly mean the opposite of what they say, and which are made in order to hurt someone's feelings or to criticize something in a humorous way
well-meant -- (adj) said or done in order to be helpful, but not always achieving this sidetrack -- (vb)[Tusually passive]
to direct a person's attention away from an activity or subject towards another one which is less important
chili melt -- (n) chili and molten cheese pristine -- (adj) formalapproving
new or almost new, and in very good condition
doze off --
phrasal verb
informal
If you doze off, you start to sleep, especially during the day
surrender -- (vb) [I]If you surrender to an experience or emotion, you stop trying to prevent or control it inevitable -- (adj) certain to happen and unable to be avoided or prevented coma -- (n) [C]
a state of unconsciousness from which a person cannot be woken, which is caused by damage to the brain after an accident or illness
crusade -- (n) [C]a long and determined attempt to achieve something which you believe in strongly locale -- (n) [C]formal
an area or place, especially one where something special happens, such as the action in a book or a film
patty -- (n) [C]
a piece of food made into a disc shape which is then cooked
extravagant -- (adj) spending too much money, or using too much of something towering -- (adj) very great stack -- (n) [C]
•
a pile of things arranged one on top of another
relish -- (n) [C or U]a type of sauce which is eaten with food to add flavour to it akin (to) -- (adj) [after verb]
to take part in a riot -- used as a metaphor in this case
linger -- (vb)[I]
to take a long time to leave or disappear
part deux -- (n)Deux" is "two" in French. fall victim to sth -- to be hurt, damaged or killed because of something or someone curse -- (n) [C]magic words which are intended to bring bad luck to someone sequel -- (n) [C]
•
a book, film or play which continues the story of a previous book, etc.
shake sth up --
phrasal verb
[M]
to cause large changes in something such as an organization, usually in order to make improvements
crave -- (vb) [T]
to have a strong or uncontrollable want for something
scarf -- (vb)[T]
US forscoff (EAT) -- [T](US alsoscarf) informal to eat something quickly and eagerly
death row -- (n) mainly US
on death row
in prison and waiting to be killed as a punishment for a crime
Opinions:
Okay, who wants to try? I would, trying is fine, but I guess I will only try one new burger a month. It is just too fatty and I wouldn't want to risk my health for the taste of it. What's more, I'm quite sure that fresh steaks taste much better than those hamburgers. Why settle for less? I used to be a Burger King lover, now for health, I hardly ever go for a burger -- heartburn is never easy on me.
As you can see, I'm a logical person with good control, but some aren't. Another news from Guyism reports that a Missouri man armed with a shotgun entered a McDonald’s after closing and demanded burgers!
On our YouTube channel, you will see the videos that I have bookmarked and added as playlists. If you have lots of time at home and want to find something interesting to learn, yet you have no idea what is interesting and what can help you with your listening practice, just come to our YouTube channel!
I think you are aware of the buttons on the right-hand side of the page, simply click these buttons and they will take you to the places you want to go! Also, RSS Feed is now moved to the top as a button also, so it should be easier for you to subscribe and read my entries with the Readers you like. I personally use Google Reader.
Anyway, hope you like the Locky's English Playground YouTube channel!
Looks like only this is the most we'll get to see......
iPhone 5 Antenna Gate Redesign
Image from iphonefaq.org
Rumours said that iPhone 5 / Verizon iPhone was to be announced yesterday. Apple officials were expected to be there, the journalists from various popular gadget websites were invited and everybody had their fingers on the camera shutter.
Looks like Apple will have to make iPhone 5 very much smarter or it will sure lose out to these awesome gadgets! Copycats can do better than the inventors!
