Learn to write code
Everywhere you look these days, it's clear: There's no shortage of people using smartphones and tablets. Of course don't need to know how to write the programs their devices use. In the opinion of nonprofit foundation Code. org however, it's probably time they consider learning. The group claims that a shortage of computer programmers could lead to 1 million programming jobs being left empty in the next decade. Not a good thing for a world that runs on technology.
In the long run, Code. org hopes to increase the number of high schools offering computer programming classes. They want computer programming to become part of the main curriculum. In the short run, students whose schools look such classes can choose from online courses. A good starting place is Codeacademy.com, which offers free courses in programming languages such as Jave Script and Python.
Often, students assume that coding skills are only necessary for computer professionals. But, nearly all professions-from teaching to business-involve some work related to computer and the Internet. Resumes that list programming skills will stand out from ones that don't. So give that resume a boost, and learn to code today!
Grammar Gym
not a good thing: That is not a good thing.
- Not a good thing for a world that runs on technology.
- The only way to get to the restaurant is by walking up a stony path - not a good thing for female guests whose wearing high heels.
- The weather forecast says it will rain this weekend - not a good thing for anyone with out door plans.
Info Cloud
Teaching Topic: Hyperbole
As readers, we need to develop good discernment skills, because sometimes writers will intentionally stretch the truth.
Today's article begins with the phrase "everywhere you look." The word "everywhere" should be a signal to you that our author is using hyperbole.
Now, also know as overstatement or exaggeration, hyperbole is a legitimate and useful language tool.
It evokes strong feelings and emphasizes what is being said, but it is not to be taken literally.
Right! "Everywhere we look?" No, our author deliberately exaggerates to express his surprise over the incredible popularity of smart phones and tablets.
Now, listen everyone, we must have said this "a million times already." Don't overuse exaggeration. Just like alliteration, which we highlighted last month, the more you exaggerate, the less effective it becomes as a stylistic device.
That's right. If you use it too much, people won't pay attention to you when you really do need to emphasize a point.
Here are a few other examples of hyperbole you might hear in everyday speech. Like, "I'm so hungry, I can eat a horse."
"My backpack weighs a ton."
And, "that joke was so funny, he laughed his head off." Hahahaha....
- I told you a million times.
- Everywhere you look these days, it's clear: There's no shortage of people using smartphones and tablets.
exaggerate v.exaggeration =overstatement n.
hyperbole 誇張法，最好適度使用，否則會如放羊的孩子
Language Lab
shortage n.
a situation in which there is not enough of something that people need
- There's an acute shortage of food and medical supplies in the war zone.
戰區內，食物和醫藥都嚴重的短缺
- The long and dry summer led to a serious shortage of water.
既長又乾旱的夏季導致嚴重的缺水問題
in the long run
used when talking about what will happen at a later time or when something is finished:
- Investing in new products might cost money, but in the long run, it will keep the company in the lead.
in the short run
- Cutting prices might increase sales in the short run, but it doesn't bring in profit.
銷價在短期內或許可以增加銷售量，但是不會帶來利潤
curriculum n.
/kəˈrɪkjələm/
the courses that are taught by a school, college, etc.
- Our school's English curriculum is fun and interactive.
我們學校的英文課程既好玩又具互動性
- Susie is in charge of the curriculum develop of the department.
Susie負責這個科系的課程研發
boost n. v.提昇、加強
an increase in amount; help or encouragement
- The government hoped that cutting taxes would give a boost to the economic growth.
政府希望減稅可以提升經濟發展
to increase the force, power, or amount of (something)
- The company's stock price was boosted by its great financial report.
這家公司的股價因良好的財報表現而上漲
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20131017baade5d7bfb9ceb776d7697a6bc28ae475382575bd99b15e863eda94e0fffc9762a.wma
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Saturday, August 3, 2013
[Advanced] Boatbuilding School (3)
Scenic Tranquility
Along the snowberry-lined Portage Trail, I stumbled upon a lagoon with more than 100 flapping and Northern pintails, named for their sharp-as-a-quill-pen tail feather, mixed with buffleheads, whose bulbous, white-patched heads made each appear as if it was wearing a marshmallow bonnet.
From Lagoon Beach, you might launch a kayak and explore the protected waters, or set off to poke into the paddler’s haven of hidden, lakelike Mats Mats Bay, 4.5 miles to the south.
Find more paddling opportunities on long, eel-shaped Kilisut Harbor, between Indian Island and neighboring Marrowstone Island.
At the head of Mystery Bay on Marrowstone’s western shore, island life centers on almost-century-old Nordland General Store, with its postage-stamp of a post office, well-trodden wood floors, good wine selection, and kayaks for rent in warmer months. Classic sailboats rock on mooring balls just off the dock. Want excitement? Storekeeper Tom Rose will tell you to come back Memorial Day weekend for the tractor parade.
Homegrown Delights
South of Port Hadlock, the Chimacum Valley is a growing haven of organic farms, some with their own stands, guarded by visiting posses of trumpeter swans. Or stop by Chimacum Corner Farmstand at the four-way stop on Highway 19, with local foods from around the region. Up Center Road, Finn River Farm and Cidery is open for tastings from noon to 5 p.m. daily. To warm up the first days of spring, they party with cider and pizza, co-owner Crystie Kisler said.
If that’s not enough, Port Townsend is 20 minutes up the road, with more classic boats and saltwater views.
After all this, have you caught a bad case of boat envy? Better sign up for a workshop.
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130803adab3d777ad4c378e9890ea308a6972c77c79fca2928d1608680fccf1829ef1d191.wma
Along the snowberry-lined Portage Trail, I stumbled upon a lagoon with more than 100 flapping and Northern pintails, named for their sharp-as-a-quill-pen tail feather, mixed with buffleheads, whose bulbous, white-patched heads made each appear as if it was wearing a marshmallow bonnet.
From Lagoon Beach, you might launch a kayak and explore the protected waters, or set off to poke into the paddler’s haven of hidden, lakelike Mats Mats Bay, 4.5 miles to the south.
Find more paddling opportunities on long, eel-shaped Kilisut Harbor, between Indian Island and neighboring Marrowstone Island.
At the head of Mystery Bay on Marrowstone’s western shore, island life centers on almost-century-old Nordland General Store, with its postage-stamp of a post office, well-trodden wood floors, good wine selection, and kayaks for rent in warmer months. Classic sailboats rock on mooring balls just off the dock. Want excitement? Storekeeper Tom Rose will tell you to come back Memorial Day weekend for the tractor parade.
Homegrown Delights
South of Port Hadlock, the Chimacum Valley is a growing haven of organic farms, some with their own stands, guarded by visiting posses of trumpeter swans. Or stop by Chimacum Corner Farmstand at the four-way stop on Highway 19, with local foods from around the region. Up Center Road, Finn River Farm and Cidery is open for tastings from noon to 5 p.m. daily. To warm up the first days of spring, they party with cider and pizza, co-owner Crystie Kisler said.
If that’s not enough, Port Townsend is 20 minutes up the road, with more classic boats and saltwater views.
After all this, have you caught a bad case of boat envy? Better sign up for a workshop.
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130803adab3d777ad4c378e9890ea308a6972c77c79fca2928d1608680fccf1829ef1d191.wma
Friday, August 2, 2013
[Advanced] Boatbuilding School (2)
A third of the school’s students come from within 300 miles of Puget Sound. Others have come from all over the United States, plus Japan, Scotland, South Korea and beyond.
“Here’s an Air Force colonel working next to our young student from Japan,” Leenhouts told me recently as we toured a busy workshop where students clustered around the steam-bent planks of a 14-foot Davis Boat, a design from the island community of Metlakatla, Alaska.
The shop was like a sensory chamber for woodworking obsessives. The spice of red cedar mingled with the tangy smell of teak oil, while the whiska-whiska rhythm of hand planes got backup from a keening power saw.
Fun after class
When lessons are over, other diversions aren’t far. Across the street from the school’s waterfront office is the Ajax Café, a longtime fixture in the 1890s-era home of the town’s founder, Samuel Hadlock.
The night I dined on herb-coated chicken with gnocchi and baby spinach ($16), washed down by aged cider from nearby Finnriver cidery, a dozen boat builders at a long table were celebrating Friday.
At the playfully informal Ajax, where your dinner menu is apt to come wrapped in the jacket of an old LP vinyl record (for me, “Rod McKuen’s Greatest Hits,” which sort of seemed like an oxymoron), celebrations involve wearing all sorts of hats plucked from pegs on the café’s wall. As a piano player plinked out Elton John tunes, the boat builders sported everything from a striped Cat in the Hat chapeau to wide-brimmed ladies’ evening hats of the 1940s.
Port Hadlock isn’t the quaint “Victorian seaport” of Port Townsend. Rather than a lot of galleries and boutiques, there’s Big Pig Thrift Store and a propane depot. Beyond the Ajax, prominent eateries include Zoog’s Caveman Cookin.
There’s plenty more to do and see nearby, especially if you’re a hiker, birder or kayaker. About a half-mile east on Oak Bay Road, turn toward Indian Island and cross the bridge over the man-made canal that serves as a boater’s shortcut to Port Townsend.
Trails to Explore
On the road’s north side, Indian Island is a securely fenced naval-munitions depot (don’t even think about trespassing). But on your right over the next couple miles is Jefferson County’s Indian Island Park, with beach-access points linked by marvelous water-view trails that traverse wooded hillsides and drop down by lagoons and pretty Oak Bay.
“Here’s an Air Force colonel working next to our young student from Japan,” Leenhouts told me recently as we toured a busy workshop where students clustered around the steam-bent planks of a 14-foot Davis Boat, a design from the island community of Metlakatla, Alaska.
The shop was like a sensory chamber for woodworking obsessives. The spice of red cedar mingled with the tangy smell of teak oil, while the whiska-whiska rhythm of hand planes got backup from a keening power saw.
Fun after class
When lessons are over, other diversions aren’t far. Across the street from the school’s waterfront office is the Ajax Café, a longtime fixture in the 1890s-era home of the town’s founder, Samuel Hadlock.
The night I dined on herb-coated chicken with gnocchi and baby spinach ($16), washed down by aged cider from nearby Finnriver cidery, a dozen boat builders at a long table were celebrating Friday.
At the playfully informal Ajax, where your dinner menu is apt to come wrapped in the jacket of an old LP vinyl record (for me, “Rod McKuen’s Greatest Hits,” which sort of seemed like an oxymoron), celebrations involve wearing all sorts of hats plucked from pegs on the café’s wall. As a piano player plinked out Elton John tunes, the boat builders sported everything from a striped Cat in the Hat chapeau to wide-brimmed ladies’ evening hats of the 1940s.
Port Hadlock isn’t the quaint “Victorian seaport” of Port Townsend. Rather than a lot of galleries and boutiques, there’s Big Pig Thrift Store and a propane depot. Beyond the Ajax, prominent eateries include Zoog’s Caveman Cookin.
There’s plenty more to do and see nearby, especially if you’re a hiker, birder or kayaker. About a half-mile east on Oak Bay Road, turn toward Indian Island and cross the bridge over the man-made canal that serves as a boater’s shortcut to Port Townsend.
Trails to Explore
On the road’s north side, Indian Island is a securely fenced naval-munitions depot (don’t even think about trespassing). But on your right over the next couple miles is Jefferson County’s Indian Island Park, with beach-access points linked by marvelous water-view trails that traverse wooded hillsides and drop down by lagoons and pretty Oak Bay.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
[Advanced] Boatbuilding School (1)
This unique school exemplifies the best of ‘education vacations’
By Brian J. Cantwell
If you’re one of those nautical types who mystify the medical community every time a blood test discovers saltwater in your veins, here’s an “education vacation” for you.
It includes soul-soothing vistas of gunmetal-blue waters; protected lagoons for kayaking; water-view hiking trails. And an opportunity to learn how to properly varnish your boat, or even build a new one.
Port Hadlock is home to the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, one of the most respected academies of its kind.
The boat school started in 1981 in nearby Port Townsend, home to one of the world’s leading annual wooden-boat festivals. In pursuit of more space and a waterfront location, the school moved in 2004 to Port Hadlock, at the south end of Port Townsend’s long bay.
Between the two communities, “I think we’re unique in the United States,” said school director Pete Leenhouts, a retired U.S. Navy officer. “Nowhere else is there such a concentrated pool of talent in the marine trades.”
The school typically hosts from 35 to 50 full-time students in long-term studies. But it also offers a range of shorter courses, from weekends to a couple of weeks, that can fit into vacations for couples or families.
When Dale Simonson, a college instructor from Burnaby, B.C., came for a two-week class to build a 12-foot sailboat, he camped at scenic Fort Worden and Fort Townsend state parks.
“My first contact with the school was a phone call, and I think it was Pete (Leenhouts) who actually answered the phone,” Simonson said. “It was a very good experience from that moment.”
Kathy Liu, of Port Townsend, has a 24-foot wooden sailboat that “has issues now and then,” so she took the school’s five-day Painting and Varnishing course.
She praised instructor Diane Salguero’s knowledge and flexibility with her students.
nautical adj.
/ˈnɑ:tɪkəl/
relating to ships and sailing
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130801ada894f32d501ef87f889c155f3300fcc1b8774d9660a76f79a0a05c740d9291d07.wma
By Brian J. Cantwell
If you’re one of those nautical types who mystify the medical community every time a blood test discovers saltwater in your veins, here’s an “education vacation” for you.
It includes soul-soothing vistas of gunmetal-blue waters; protected lagoons for kayaking; water-view hiking trails. And an opportunity to learn how to properly varnish your boat, or even build a new one.
Port Hadlock is home to the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, one of the most respected academies of its kind.
The boat school started in 1981 in nearby Port Townsend, home to one of the world’s leading annual wooden-boat festivals. In pursuit of more space and a waterfront location, the school moved in 2004 to Port Hadlock, at the south end of Port Townsend’s long bay.
Between the two communities, “I think we’re unique in the United States,” said school director Pete Leenhouts, a retired U.S. Navy officer. “Nowhere else is there such a concentrated pool of talent in the marine trades.”
The school typically hosts from 35 to 50 full-time students in long-term studies. But it also offers a range of shorter courses, from weekends to a couple of weeks, that can fit into vacations for couples or families.
When Dale Simonson, a college instructor from Burnaby, B.C., came for a two-week class to build a 12-foot sailboat, he camped at scenic Fort Worden and Fort Townsend state parks.
“My first contact with the school was a phone call, and I think it was Pete (Leenhouts) who actually answered the phone,” Simonson said. “It was a very good experience from that moment.”
Kathy Liu, of Port Townsend, has a 24-foot wooden sailboat that “has issues now and then,” so she took the school’s five-day Painting and Varnishing course.
She praised instructor Diane Salguero’s knowledge and flexibility with her students.
nautical adj.
/ˈnɑ:tɪkəl/
relating to ships and sailing
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130801ada894f32d501ef87f889c155f3300fcc1b8774d9660a76f79a0a05c740d9291d07.wma
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