ESL Podcast 467 – Buying Men’s Shirts
* Original dialogue:
Francesca: Hurry up! Come out of that fitting room so I can see how the dress shirt fits.
Eddie: The first one didn’t fit at all. The sleeves were too short and it was too form fitting. I like my shirts to be on the roomy side. I’m trying on the second one.
Francesca: Come on, let me see. Okay, I think this one fits you pretty well. The collar is the right size, not too loose or tight. The cuffs on this one fall at just the right place, don’t you think?
Eddie: Yeah, it’s fine.
Francesca: Try on the T-shirts.
Eddie: Okay, but I’m not trying on the fancy ones with a V-neck. I like my T-shirts the old-fashioned way – with a crew neck.
Francesca: All right, but try on the short-sleeve and the long-sleeve ones, too. Hurry up.
Eddie: Hold on, I’m changing as fast as I can. Oh, geez. I’ve heard of oversized T-shirts, but this is ridiculous.
Francesca: Let me see. You’re right. You’ve got enough room in there for two people!
* Listening note:
1. fitting room- a small room with a door where you can try on the clothing in the store, usually with a mirror inside. Also called- dressing room.
2. dress shirt- a nice men's shirt, something you will wear to the office and it's more formal with buttons in the front.
3. form fitting- too tight
4. on the roomy side- a little bit too big.
5. cuffs- at the very bottom of the sleeves, usually there's a button closing the sleeves.
6. crew neck- a T-shirt usually informal with a crew neck and something wear underneath the formal shirt.
7. oversided- too big
* Comments:
The two listening website introduced this week are really useful for not only the beginners and also advanced learners. Actually, I had a TOEIC test last Sunday. During my preparation, i didn't have many official guide CDs to practice my listening. Fortunately, professor Sally gave us two great websites for us to practice listening ability online. Before I took the test, I used Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab as a helpful tool. I can choose the practical content I want and those videos are classified in different levels. For students like us, videos in "Difficult or Very Difficult" levels are suitable. After the short statement or conversation, there are some questions for testing your understanding. This function is just perfect for me to prepare the listening test. In addition, the website offers the function that if you move the mouse to the key vocabularies, it shows the definition and explanation. It is really convenient. Compare to Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab, ESL Podcast is quite useful as well. After the conversation, the experienced teacher gives a very clear explanation. Moreover, the video can be downloaded to your own MP3 and you can listen it when you're walking or waiting for a bus. It's such a great advantage. But i think the speed is too slow for the advanced learners like us. Also, the vocabularies and explanation should be written out on the website. However, if students can use these two websites frequently, it will definitely increase their abilities of listening.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
A Body Guard's Story
Thank God!! It's finally over~
The three-day-conference was really over now!
Before i knew it, i thought it may not be a big deal to be a receptionist. Actually, it took a lot of energy!!
Due to the small scale of our department, the working people in this great conference were limited.
So every students including seniors had to take a part in this conference. But my part was a quite big "PART"~
Elaine and I worked as the receptionists of Mariachiara Russo, the professor from Italy.
Being the important keynote speaker of this conference and it's her first time to Taiwan, Elaine and I had a huge stress on being her receptionists.
Her flight arrived at early morning on the day before the conference, we woke even more early and managed to the Taoyuan International Airport to fetch the flight.
We waved the poster with nerve, then there's a sweet lady walking toward us with a big smile.
The plane-fetching was smooth going and we had a great chat on the way back to our school.
We showed her the dormitory which she was going to stay for a week and introduce everything she might use just like washing machine.
After a quick refreshing, we had a lunch together with Professor Jason Chen who invited her to our conference.
Professor Russo was a kind person and love Chinese food. In the afternoon, we're just about to have Pr. Chen's interpreting class, being the chair of interpreting department in Bologna's Graduate School, Chiara was invited to have a talk with us. After a long day, Elaine and I introduced our cafeteria and had dinner with her.
We arranged the time of meeting together on the first day of the conference.
In the three-day conference, we worked as a body guard and secretary as well.
When Chiara was talking with other professor, we had to stay by her. Sometimes, she need some help to recognize all professors in our department and some from other schools.
Also, we had to ask her the sections she was interested in and accompany her in every presentation. At the tea time, we had to wait until every guest was finished then it's our time to have a rest and eat something. During the luncheon and dinner with the school president, we had to take her to the restaurants and wait until the time to send her back to the dorm.
Actually, we worked 12 hours a day in the uncomfortable suit and high-heels so it's a very tiring job. On the last night, we had a banquet in Howard International House. Everyone was glad that the working was eventually over, but Elaine and I were still had a role of tour guide.
On Sunday night, we accompany Chiara to National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Taipei 101.
The night view we saw from 89 floor in Taipei 101 was gorgeous. We had a great night together.
During the conference, we luckily had a chance to listen Professor Mike Scott's speech about Word Smith. He impressed me not only the interesting content but also by the way he delivered the speech.
Without any effort, he gave the presentation smoothly just like having a talk with audiences.
Step by step, he led us to go through the process of using Word Smith Tool. With a clear introduction, we can see the ease and convenience of using this system. It's a little similar to those concordance but with a little bit different version and content.
It's a interesting a inspiring speech to people know Word Smith and those who don't.
After getting along with each other for entire five days, we exchanged our e-mail, address and phone numbers. She is such a kind and easy-going person. It's a pity that we're busy about assignment and my part time job so we can not show her around Taipei and spend more time together. Although, we're really tired and wanted to have a rest, it's still welcome to have her in our conference next year.
With the exhaustion, it's still a special experience for me and I'll never forget it.
The three-day-conference was really over now!
Before i knew it, i thought it may not be a big deal to be a receptionist. Actually, it took a lot of energy!!
Due to the small scale of our department, the working people in this great conference were limited.
So every students including seniors had to take a part in this conference. But my part was a quite big "PART"~
Elaine and I worked as the receptionists of Mariachiara Russo, the professor from Italy.
Being the important keynote speaker of this conference and it's her first time to Taiwan, Elaine and I had a huge stress on being her receptionists.
Her flight arrived at early morning on the day before the conference, we woke even more early and managed to the Taoyuan International Airport to fetch the flight.
We waved the poster with nerve, then there's a sweet lady walking toward us with a big smile.
The plane-fetching was smooth going and we had a great chat on the way back to our school.
We showed her the dormitory which she was going to stay for a week and introduce everything she might use just like washing machine.
After a quick refreshing, we had a lunch together with Professor Jason Chen who invited her to our conference.
Professor Russo was a kind person and love Chinese food. In the afternoon, we're just about to have Pr. Chen's interpreting class, being the chair of interpreting department in Bologna's Graduate School, Chiara was invited to have a talk with us. After a long day, Elaine and I introduced our cafeteria and had dinner with her.
We arranged the time of meeting together on the first day of the conference.
In the three-day conference, we worked as a body guard and secretary as well.
When Chiara was talking with other professor, we had to stay by her. Sometimes, she need some help to recognize all professors in our department and some from other schools.
Also, we had to ask her the sections she was interested in and accompany her in every presentation. At the tea time, we had to wait until every guest was finished then it's our time to have a rest and eat something. During the luncheon and dinner with the school president, we had to take her to the restaurants and wait until the time to send her back to the dorm.
Actually, we worked 12 hours a day in the uncomfortable suit and high-heels so it's a very tiring job. On the last night, we had a banquet in Howard International House. Everyone was glad that the working was eventually over, but Elaine and I were still had a role of tour guide.
On Sunday night, we accompany Chiara to National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Taipei 101.
The night view we saw from 89 floor in Taipei 101 was gorgeous. We had a great night together.
During the conference, we luckily had a chance to listen Professor Mike Scott's speech about Word Smith. He impressed me not only the interesting content but also by the way he delivered the speech.
Without any effort, he gave the presentation smoothly just like having a talk with audiences.
Step by step, he led us to go through the process of using Word Smith Tool. With a clear introduction, we can see the ease and convenience of using this system. It's a little similar to those concordance but with a little bit different version and content.
It's a interesting a inspiring speech to people know Word Smith and those who don't.
After getting along with each other for entire five days, we exchanged our e-mail, address and phone numbers. She is such a kind and easy-going person. It's a pity that we're busy about assignment and my part time job so we can not show her around Taipei and spend more time together. Although, we're really tired and wanted to have a rest, it's still welcome to have her in our conference next year.
With the exhaustion, it's still a special experience for me and I'll never forget it.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Your Good Partners- Concordancers and Collocation Retrieval System
Don't know how to choose a correct and proper adverb to describe a verb?
It happens a lot!! Especially for students major in Applied Foreign Language just like us.
But the problem could be solved by a friendly used corpus-based reference tools- Concordancers and Collocation Retrieval Systems.
After a clear introduction by the professor, a novice like me can easily run the system without much effort.
Concordancers and Collocation Retrieval Systems provide a useful function for english learners to identify a common and suitable usage of vocabularies.
It's a friendly used system just like when you're trying to find a item through the Yahoo! Online Aution System.
Compare to the dictionaries we usually use, the Collocation System can list a long string of common vocabularies usage in a few seconds.
But on the other hand, dictionaries offer us a correct definition, the phonetic symbols of vocabularies and many example sentences we can follow.
However, both dictionaries and Concordancers and Collocation Retrieval Systems are valuable and benefitial encyclopeadias for English learners.
It happens a lot!! Especially for students major in Applied Foreign Language just like us.
But the problem could be solved by a friendly used corpus-based reference tools- Concordancers and Collocation Retrieval Systems.
After a clear introduction by the professor, a novice like me can easily run the system without much effort.
Concordancers and Collocation Retrieval Systems provide a useful function for english learners to identify a common and suitable usage of vocabularies.
It's a friendly used system just like when you're trying to find a item through the Yahoo! Online Aution System.
Compare to the dictionaries we usually use, the Collocation System can list a long string of common vocabularies usage in a few seconds.
But on the other hand, dictionaries offer us a correct definition, the phonetic symbols of vocabularies and many example sentences we can follow.
However, both dictionaries and Concordancers and Collocation Retrieval Systems are valuable and benefitial encyclopeadias for English learners.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Q: Carrie loves Mr. Big or Mr. Large?
If any English learners ask me what's the difference between "big" and "large",
to be honest, i have nothing to say.
Actually, after i checked them out from VLC Concordancer, i found some clues.
*We usually use "big" to describe a concrete substance.
Ex: 1. after the big house and garden
2. the big guns facing Kidderminster Harriers
*We ususally use "large" to describe a quantity.
Ex: 1. if I see a large amount of lottery money spent
2. depositing a large sum of money with the Government
to be honest, i have nothing to say.
Actually, after i checked them out from VLC Concordancer, i found some clues.
*We usually use "big" to describe a concrete substance.
Ex: 1. after the big house and garden
2. the big guns facing Kidderminster Harriers
*We ususally use "large" to describe a quantity.
Ex: 1. if I see a large amount of lottery money spent
2. depositing a large sum of money with the Government
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Let's Look it Up !!
Since I've been studied in AFL, plenty sorts of writing and reading works come along with my studying times.
Trying to look up a new word is something happened frequently.
This week, we've learned a lot from the dictionary subject and believe that it's so useful in our learning life time.
Many classmates and i rely on Yahoo! Online Dictionary but the teacher introduced more than we've known.
Moreover, those authoritative and influential dictionaries just like Oxford and Cambridge provide online dictionary services FOR FREE!!
It is definitely a great help for students who normally can't aford the extra expense.
(But owning a great dictionary is certainly good for us!)
Also, we read the article about teacher 奚永慧 , how he gave suggestions to the students seeking for a good dictionary.
As a "Dictionary Holic", he gave the three elements that a good dictionary should have.
And i learned that for different purposes and people, there are different types of dictionaries we have just like bilingual and monolingual dictionary.
Before we ended the class, teacher should us a magical software- FastStond!! which can print the picture done easily and even make a short video of running steps in the computer.
No doubt, we've absorbed much useful skill and knowledge this week.
Thx for reading my blog and See u !!~
Trying to look up a new word is something happened frequently.
This week, we've learned a lot from the dictionary subject and believe that it's so useful in our learning life time.
Many classmates and i rely on Yahoo! Online Dictionary but the teacher introduced more than we've known.
Moreover, those authoritative and influential dictionaries just like Oxford and Cambridge provide online dictionary services FOR FREE!!
It is definitely a great help for students who normally can't aford the extra expense.
(But owning a great dictionary is certainly good for us!)
Also, we read the article about teacher 奚永慧 , how he gave suggestions to the students seeking for a good dictionary.
As a "Dictionary Holic", he gave the three elements that a good dictionary should have.
And i learned that for different purposes and people, there are different types of dictionaries we have just like bilingual and monolingual dictionary.
Before we ended the class, teacher should us a magical software- FastStond!! which can print the picture done easily and even make a short video of running steps in the computer.
No doubt, we've absorbed much useful skill and knowledge this week.
Thx for reading my blog and See u !!~
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
do u know about her?
HEY! welcome to my blog!!
My name is Sophia Lin, I'm from a small town in Taichung where we have High Speed Rail near by my house. It's more convenient to go to anywhere now.
Graduated from the five-year college, Hu-Wei University, it's exciting for me to come to such a different city two years ago. Actually, I could not adapt myself to a new environment at first, but now, it's so much better.
I have funny, crazy but sweet classmates in the lovely school. There are only thirteen students in our class so we HATE each other!!
Ha!! Of course not~ We get along with each other very well, just like a small family.
Now, i have a part-time job in T.G.I. Friday's as a hostess. I have worked there for a half year so I've learned a lot including dealing with customers and my colleagues.
If you're interested in our delicious food, please come to see me.
OK, let's talk more about me another day, see u!My name is Sophia Lin, I'm from a small town in Taichung where we have High Speed Rail near by my house. It's more convenient to go to anywhere now.
Graduated from the five-year college, Hu-Wei University, it's exciting for me to come to such a different city two years ago. Actually, I could not adapt myself to a new environment at first, but now, it's so much better.
I have funny, crazy but sweet classmates in the lovely school. There are only thirteen students in our class so we HATE each other!!
Ha!! Of course not~ We get along with each other very well, just like a small family.
Now, i have a part-time job in T.G.I. Friday's as a hostess. I have worked there for a half year so I've learned a lot including dealing with customers and my colleagues.
If you're interested in our delicious food, please come to see me.
wish u a good day!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
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