This song is so beautiful, but it makes me cry every time I hear it. I didn’t have a dad when I grew up and this song brings back some memories of the sadness I felt sometimes of not having a dad. And now that I am a father, I can feel the song even more. In part of the song, he sings:

  Can you recall
How you took me to school
We couldn’t talk much at all
It’s been so many years
And now these tears
Guess I’m still your child

Sometimes I take my son to school and unbelievably, I find it hard to find things to talk about with him just like the song says. I never thought it would happen to me! I always thought my son and I would have lots to talk about.

I have loved Peter Gabriel since I was 15 years old. I am 39 now, and I still love him a lot. Beleive it or not!

1. Find a city and state in the USA. Use Google maps

2. Go to www.realtor.com (or www.homeseekers.com) to find a house you like.

3. Write a post including;

a. city and state

b. the price of the house

c. how many bedrooms/bathrooms

d. what the outside of the house looks like

e. what you like best about the house

———————————————————————————-

My dream house is in Honolulu, Hawaii!

It costs 15,000,000 US dollars (only!).

It has 5 bedrooms and 5 1/2 bathrooms.

Outside there is a swimming pool and the ocean is close by.

My favorite part is the swimming pool. If you swim in it, you can also see the ocean from there. Do you want to come to my house for lunch? Bring your bathing suit!

I am experimenting with ivideo and youtube. Here is the first presentation I uploaded today. It’s taken me at least 30 minutes getting this video done, not including the transfer time from the camera. I don’t think I will have time to upload all the videos on youtube. We will see… I  started with this one because it is a great one. You can see that this student knows what he is talking about and PRACTICED his presentation. Notice how he is actually TALKING to us, not just reading from his notes. It’s the first A++ I’ve given in 4 years.

You can use your box.net account to save your work.

remember: If you want to do a good job, you need to do some work at home!

If you  do this with a partner, make sure you put both your name and number ON THE SUBJECT LINE OF THE POST. Both team members should post the same choices, although your reasons WHY might be different or the same.

I will look at them and choose one by leaving a comment. I will try, as much as possible, to choose your number 1 choice.

“She was on the rail track for almost 1 1/2 to two hours,” said Dr. Gautam Jain, a pediatrician at Rajasthan Hospital in Ahmadabad, in the western state of Gujarat, where the baby and mother were taken.

The child, who has not yet been named, was eight to 10 weeks premature and weighed only 3.22 pounds, Jain said. She had a low heart rate and body temperature.

Thank god for that!

(photo from Foxnews.com)

I also did some paragliding a few years ago, but it was too expensive. And with the birth of my son, it was not practical. NOw I guess my hobby is going on long rides on my motorcycle. I sometimes go with a lot of other guys, sometimes by myself. It really is a great way to discover Taiwan!

The weather in Taichung tonight will be cold, between 14 to 16 degrees.

Or when we want to write what someone else wrote we also use links to show where we got it:

The elections in Pakistan are underway. Who knows if they will be fair? According to a CNN report:

SLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — One day after a pivotal vote that will determine Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s political viability, early returns on Tuesday showed gains for the opposition parties of former Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and the slain Benazir Bhutto.

We use them also to link to something we already wrote, but want to explain again:

Last year I posted a video on how not to do Powerpoint presentations. Please look at it when you have time.

ASSIGNMENT

Find a news article about something that interests you. It can be in English or Chinese. Write a short (50 words) description of the story and link back to the page where it came from.

Let’ get retarded started!

This year, you will be keeping an English blog at edublogs.org or eslblogs.org. This blog will be used for many things, like:

• writing assignments
• writing about your experiences
• posting photos/videos
• sharing your ideas with other classmates
• writing comments on other students’ posts

Let me show you how to start…