This afternoon we English teachers listened to a speech by Prof. Pei-Chun Che (車蓓群教授), a professor at National Chengchi University. The topic is “From the Textbook to Critical Thinking (從課本看思考性教學)” (more…)
Archive for the ‘Good speeches’ Category
“From the Textbook to Critical Thinking”–A Speech
Monday, December 12th, 2011The 12-Year-Old Girl That Silenced the World for 6 Minutes
Sunday, November 13th, 2011Here I’d like to present a speech by a Canadian school girl Severn Suzuki at UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) in Rio de Jenairo in 1992 on environmental issues. Talking to the delegates from around the world, she was only 12 years old then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPx5r35Aymc&feature=fvsr
Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream”–the Video
Sunday, October 23rd, 2011For those who want to watch Dr. King deliver his famous speech “I Have a Dream,” here is the video.
By doing “shadowing,” that is, repeating after Dr. King while listening, you can practice giving an eloquent speech in English.
A former student of mine who I taught in 2008-09 told me that while we were going over this lesson, whenever she turned on her computer, the first thing she would do was watch/listen to the speech.
The First Five Minutes of Dr. King’s Speech “I Have a Dream”
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011Today we read Martin Luther King’s famous speech “I Have a Dream.” Before we went to the excerpt presented by the textbook, which is the last part of the speech, I had the students watch/listen to and read the first five minutes of the speech. (more…)
Start Practicing Who You Want to Be Today–Michelle Obama’s Commencement Address at Anacostia Senior High School
Sunday, June 13th, 2010The following is a news report on American first lady Michelle Obama’s commencement address at a high school. Visit the webpage and you can read not only the news report but also the full text.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/11/michelle-obama-anacostia-_n_609356.html
Michelle Obama Tears Up, Urges Students to Pursue Higher Ed in Academies at Anacostia Graduation Speech
June 11, 2010
“Don’t Make Excuses”–Excerpts from President Barack Obama’s Commencement Address at Kalamazoo Central High School
Friday, June 11th, 2010Imagine the President giving a speech at the graduation ceremony of a high school. Cool!
Excerpts from President Barack Obama’s Commencement Address at Kalamazoo Central High School
June 07, 2010 (more…)
An Intriguing Speech–JK Rowling’s 2008 Harvard Commencement Speech: the Fringe Benefits of Failure
Thursday, February 4th, 2010Late yesterday night, when I checked if there was something good at the Website TED, I came across JK Rowling’s 2008 Harvard Commencement Speech. Listening to it for around 20 minutes, I was deeply attracted to her enlightening words.
Then I found this website at which you can listen to and read the speech at the same time. My suggestion is that you first listen to the speech without looking at the script, trying to jot down some important points. Then for the second time, you read the script as you listen.
http://harvardmagazine.com/commencement/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination (more…)
Persistence
Sunday, January 10th, 2010I was touched by the inspiration Mr. Chu gave the students.
http://mag.udn.com/mag/campus/storypage.jsp?f_ART_ID=230367
朱學恒談堅持 建中人鼓掌2分鐘 2010/01/8
【聯合報╱記者邱瓊玉／台北報導】 (more…)
Don’t Waste Life in Front of the Computer, Said Lian, Jia-en (連加恩)
Sunday, November 29th, 2009In today’s UDN, I read a news report on Lian, Jia-en’s speech at Tsing-hua University. Mr. Lian joined substitute military service to serve in Africa for 20 months after he graduated from medical school eight years ago. He taught the children there to collect garbage in exchange for old clothes and raised funds to set up an orphanage. (more…)
Things Will Work Out as They Should…
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009This morning while I was cleaning up my desk in my study, I listened to some talks at TED, a marvelous web site where “riveting talks by remarkable people” are shared.
Though I didn’t concentrate, I still heard a lot of inspiring sentences. For example, here’s one in John Wooden’s “True Success,” http://www.ted.com/talks/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success.html
“…believe things will work out as they should providing we do what we should.”