#8 edX Online Courses

     In this article, I would like to share a course that I learned from edX the online sources which collects tons of free courses for people to take.  Today I have chosen a course which named "Inspiring and motivating Arts and Culture teams."

     The website of this course: https://www.edx.org/course/inspiring-motivating-arts-culture-teams-michiganx-artsadminx

     This course is offered by the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in collaboration with National Arts Strategies, it focuses on equipping leaders in the cultural sector with the critical skills for inspiring employee engagement and performance while motivating people to adjust behavior and embrace change.

#7 TED Talk

In this article, I'd like to introduce a TED talk that I have watched and share some words or phrases with you.

Source: https://www.ted.com/talks/peggy_orenstein_what_young_women_believe_about_their_own_sexual_pleasure/transcript?language=en

What young women believe about their own sexual pleasure
Presented by Peggy Orenstein, Mar. 2017
     This talk fixes on the people who is parent or educator, about how can they change a side to see the "Un-talkable thing"and how to teach their young girls, how to learn and enjoy sex. The ideas Orestein had shared was pretty much based on a feminine stand point and stay open about this important issue, to let girls and women know that how can we change our actions and opinions to female having sex in a much relief ans relax way.


Vocabulary & Phrases:
*entitlement: A US government program or system that gives money or help to people who need it.

*sophomore: (American English) a student who is in their second year of study at a college or high school.

*reciprocal: A reciprocal arrangement or relationship is one in which two people or groups do or give the same things to each other.

*shrugged: To raise and then lower your shoulders in order to show that you do not know something or do not care about something.

*docile: Quiet and easily controlled.

#6 Steve Jobs’ Talk

In this article, I will share some words or sentences that I learned and also my feedback in the Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address speech, I have add the link in the sidebar, feel free to check that out!

Dictionary source: http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/

Vocabulary:
*commencement: (North American English) a ceremony at which students receive their academic degrees or diplomas.
*tuition: The money that you pay to be taught, especially in a college or university.
*dorm: =dormitory, a room for several people to sleep in, especially in a school or other institution.
*intuition: The ability to know something by using your feelings rather than considering the facts.
*calligraphy: Beautiful handwriting that you do with a special pen or brush; the art of producing this.

Feedback:
After watched to the whole speech, I found that Steve Jobs was a man with great courage and pretty liked this speech.  In his college life, the thing that he scared the most was not unable to graduate but
couldn't learn anything he liked or he wanted.  He had the courage to insist in what he loved, even in the most desperate time in his career.  I can hardly relate his story in my experiences since I really need to graduate from this school as soon as I can, I don't dare to wagering my graduating on the things I really liked, that is also the reason I truly look up to him.  I wish I can insist to do the thing I love as my whole life career, just like what Steve Jobs had done.

#5 English Song Sharing

This time, I'd like to share a song that I like very much -- Limelight, published by Monstercat Media, a company which makes lots of amazing EDM(Electronic Dance Music) songs since 2011.
The singer Danyka Nadeau comes from Toronto, Canada.

Limelight is a soft and positive song, which is different from many exciting EDM songs and can also makes me feel relaxing and encouraged.  With miss Nadeau's crystal voice -- which is so pure and colorful at the same time, this song then has it's spirit.  When I am listening this song, I feel more confident and more willing to do something if I am not so afraid to do.
Hope you enjoy the song!

*****************************************************

Into the Limelight --  Monstercat-Trivecta (feat. Danyka Nadeau)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqbEDgGvnwM

Close my eyes, it's all coming to me
Who said these walls couldn't ever be breached?
We all long for that one thing
A life that's worth living
And tonight there'll be a reckoning

I am ready
Are you with me?

And we ride into the limelight
And we shine in our own right
And we'll fight for the good life
May our voices carry a wind of change
Carry a wind of change

And we ride
And we ride
May our voices carry a wind of change
Carry a wind of change

Should we follow the rules, you and me?
I want to beat the system, unleash me
We all long for that one thing
A life that's worth living
And tonight there'll be a reckoning

Are you ready?
Are you with me?
Oh~

And we ride into the limelight
And we shine in our own right
And we'll fight for the good life
May our voices carry a wind of change
Oh~

And we ride
And we ride
May our voices carry a wind of change
Carry a wind of change

*****************************************************

Vocabulary:

*breach: verb;  An act of breaking a law, promise, agreement, or relationship.

Example:  There have been serious security breaches (= breaks in our security system).

*reckoning: noun;  A calculation that you make.

Example:  By my reckoning, we should arrive in ten minutes.

*unleash: verb;  To suddenly release a violent force that cannot be controlled

Example:  Rachel's arrival on the scene had unleashed passions in him that he could scarcely control.

#4 All Ears English -- Music to Your Ears

In this article, I'd like to share the vocabulary and some phrases that I learned in this episode of All Ears English this podcast:
https://www.allearsenglish.com/aee-720-episode-will-music-ears-youll-learn-add-color-language/
I would also leave some opinions about this podcast.

Vocabulary:
spontaneously: Adverb. Something that is spontaneous has not been planned or organized, but happens by itself, or because you suddenly feel you want to do it.
Example: She laughed spontaneously.

“That’s music to my ears”: Something is nice to be hear.
Example: Her voice is the music to my ears.

“Face the music”: Face to/accept to something which is bad or someone is avoiding to it.
Example: I really don't feel like to finish the assignment, but still, it's time to face the music.

“Ring a bell”: Something that sounds familiar.
Example: His name doesn’t ring a bell. (=I don't recognize his name.)

“Play it by ear”: To do something spontaneously without a plan.
Example: Where should we go for dinner? Let’s play it by ear.

“Toot (someone’s) own horn”: To brag, to show off
Example:
Ugh, that guy loves tooting his own horn! He’s so self-involved!
I don't want to toot my own horn  but I think he likes me.

Opinions:
This podcast use a pretty casual way to introduce many daily useful phrases.  After listen to some other episodes, I think there are few points they can make a little improve to make the whole content better.  There are about 16 minutes for each episode and I heard like 5 or even more minutes about its advertisement, that can make the listener really tired.  About their style, sometimes they use too many "you know" in sentences, sometimes are really annoying since I didn't really got the situation of their life.  All Ears is good, only some little points need to be improve.

#3 BBC 6 minutes English listening - When do you feel sleepy

In this article, I'd like to summarize a listening practice article from http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/chinese/features/6-minute-english/ep-161215.

When do you feel sleepy?

Episode 161215 / 15 Dec 2016

This episode is talking about when do people feel like to sleep in a biological way.  

The reason is circadian rhythms, which means the rhythms of how day and night changes.  By this factor, we can know that human’s sleeping behavior is related to the changes of the light.  Due to this reason, blind people and some shift workers has different endogenous clocks than others.   

In addition, exercise, food, and caffeine, may also has some influence on circadian timing, but not as strongly as the light-dark cycle.

#2 Vocabulary Exercise

I have picked up 5 words as my vocabulary in this article, here are the major definitions and sample sentences of them.

Dictionary: http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/13/politics/donald-trump-xi-jinping-summit-mar-a-lago/index.html

finalize: to complete the last part of a plan, trip, project, etc.
Example: They met to finalize the terms of the treaty.

administration: the people who plan, organize, and run a business, an institution, etc.

Example: We have a meeting with the senior administration at 8:00.

tentative: (of an arrangement, agreement, etc.) not definite or certain because you may want to change it later.

Example: We made a tentative arrangement to meet on Friday.

amid: in the middle of or during something, especially something that causes excitement or fear.

Example: The firm collapsed amid allegations of fraud.

leverage: the ability to influence what people do.

Example: Retailers can exert leverage over producers by threatening to take their business elsewhere.

#1 Small talk of me

Self introduction is always a challenge for me.  Why is it so hard to describe someone in a sincere way without making them sounds weird?

My name is Sharon Chen, a 2 years program students in AFL.  I enjoy learning languages and cultures, since each and every one of them is so unique and vivid.

Despite languages, art is my favorite field to put my head in.  I am interested in many kinds of art: drawing and painting, movies, novels, handicrafts like needled felting...etc. Sometimes I watch anime but rarely these years.  Yes, I draw.  But I am not the "Hey I have done a great art, check this out!" kind of person(so do many artists I guess?), there might not have chance for my babies to be here. Still, I love them a lot. I even dreamed to work in DreamWorks, until I woke up with my unfinished assignments.

Music is a kind of elements in my body, I can hardly live without earphones, especially when I am in the train or any place with crowd.  I am pretty into playhouse and electronic currently, I will always recommend you the Monstercat group on Youtube, they are the best if I have to choose.
Maroon 5, One Republic, Imagine Dragons, they are my favorite.  Never forget to mention.

Thank you for your reading, you have an extraordinary patience that I have seen.

Hello to new guest

Welcome. As the title, this is a website I used for posting the notes and the assignments of a CALL courses I take.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.