Lab 3 (reflection)

I just sat on the chair, staring at the computer monitor for the whole three classes. The third lab time was definitely not easy at all. At the first, I thought we were going to do the same thing as what I had done in the course of Language Teaching Methodology, but before long, I knew I was totally wrong. What we had to do was much more difficult than that. Christina, my dear partner, and I spent lots of time in searing for the article that interests us. One hour later, we finally decided which article that we were going to use. But we did not read the article out loud until we found some words that might be unfamiliar with learners (our target students are freshmen in Universities in Taiwan) and finished some comprehension questions. So, we were the last group to finish the recording.

Both Christina and I did not know why we do things in such a slow pace that day. Maybe we were tired or maybe we wanted to make this assignment better. Haa, not surprisingly, we stayed in the lab after class to finish the “Hot Potato” part. But actually we did not successfully make the assessment at that time because we did not really know how to master this program. It looks quite easy, yet, it’s not so easy to operate. I was wondering if there are other programs that can help us to make an assessment. As I remember, there are some programs (Chinese version) that can be used. But I just cannot remember what they are.

Oh~ thank God!!! And thank my dear partner, Christina! Our hot hot hot potatoes assessment finished yesterday. After we tried tens of thousand of times, we did it! Both Christina and I felt extremely happy and relax (because we really had thought it was an impossible task before we really did it.) We cannot wait to share our a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction with you all J
Are you ready? Welcome to our hot potatoes!!!

The following are parts of lab 3's assignments

※News link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2007-05-28-oplede_N.htm?csp=34

※key words and their English definitions:
▲Source: Cambridge Dictionary, Wikipedia
1.catamaran noun [C]a sailing boat that has two parallel hulls (= floating parts) held together by a single deck (= flat surface)
2.Costa Rica
(literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica (Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica, IPA: [re'puβlika ðe 'kosta 'rika]), is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the south-southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. Costa Rica was the first country in the world to constitutionally abolish its army.
3.entrepreneur noun [C]someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves risks
4.gorgeous adjectivevery beautiful or pleasant
5.pinch yourself verb [R]You say that you have to pinch yourself if you cannot really believe something that has happened because it is so good or so strange
6.whine verb [I] to make a long, high, sad sound:
7.nostalgia noun [U]a feeling of pleasure and sometimes slight sadness at the same time as you think about things that happened in the past: nostalgic adjective
8.scurry verb [I usually + adverb or preposition] to move quickly, with small short steps:
9.obsess verb [I or T] If something or someone obsesses you, or if you obsess about something or someone, you think about them all the time:

10.font (LETTERS) noun [C]a set of letters and symbols in a particular design and size

※comprehension questions and answers
Q1: How old did Dustin Ashley Tester first pick up surfing?
Ans: 14

Q2: Why does Tester spend a lot of time “pinching herself”?
Ans: She thinks the life she is leading is too good to be true.

Q3: What may be the cause to send college graduates scurrying into grad school to postpone the process of getting a job?
Ans: Well-meaning family members wax nostalgic about "paying their dues" at first jobs where they manned the office coffee pot.

Q4: What possible situation would we encounter when we find a job in Career fairs feature booths?
Ans: it’s hard for us to find the job that we’ve been dreaming of.

Q5: In the article, what is the attitude suggested toward getting a first job?
Ans: Try to find pleasure in the job. Change the attitude toward jobs from tiring works to self-fulfilling dreams.

※Summary
Dustin Ashley Tester surfs everyday, but she is not on vacation, it is actually her job. Tester is one person who is lucky to find pleasure in work. But many other young college graduates are scurrying to grad school to postpone the process of getting a first job because a dream work seldom exists. The article tells us that we don’t have to hate our first jobs, we can even fall in love with them-if we ask our selves the two questions: What do I love so much I'd do it for free, and how can I get someone to pay me to do that? Find out answers to them, and you will never “work” again.