My Learning Journal – Listening (BBC 6 Minutes)
Name
Connie Wang
Date
2012/11/13
Topic
Blood
Source
BBC Learning English (BBC 6 Minutes)
In some countries, in particular in Asia, blood type can
play an important part in your life.
Three main ideas I
heard from this
episode are…
One thing I learned in
this episode that I
may be able to use in
future is…
I’m still unsure
about…
Blood and blood types are important in medicine and
science. However, in Japan, blood types are not just
important for science and medicine. To Japanese, blood
can be important to life, work and love.
Japanese popularly believed that blood types determine
temperament and personality.
Due to the article, I understand that a majority of
western people do not believe in blood types and
astrology. As an Asian, I can see lots of books talking
about the connection between blood type and
personality displayed in the bestseller area in a
bookstore very often. As far as I am concerned, I don’t
believe in blood types, too. However, I still read the
magazine related to blood types, because I want to have
an extra topic to talk to those next to me. Thus, I have
learned that next time when we try to break the ice and
talk to westerns, do not mention something about blood
types. Even though there are some theories to support
the research, it’s still too hard to persuade them. Try to
find some topic that plays an important part in
westerns’ life as if the status blood types hold in our
minds.
As a matter of fact, I do have the same perspective with
Callum. I don’t believe in the matter that blood types can
have an influence on personality. I think destiny is up to
us. We control our own life and it sounds fair, isn’t it? If
blood types can decide the destiny in the rest of our life,
we don’t have to make an effort to attain the goals,
because the destination has been decided.
Issues that interested
me a lot, and I’d like
to study in more
detail
New words/phrases I
learned in this
episode are …
Word Count
In the article, Japanese believe in blood types so much is
mentioned. They think blood types have an extensive
impact on their work and love. As a Japanese major
student, I think I have to figure out the reasons why
blood influences them so much. As I know, the thing that
Japanese prefer blood types to constellations is contrary to
Taiwanese. From Japanese’ viewpoint, does it mean
Japanese can be divided into four groups, A, B, O and AB?
This is what I am curious about.
Squeamish (easily sickened) e. g: She gets squeamish at
the sight of blood.
Foggy (not clear or confused) e. g: He has only a foggy
idea of what he wants to do.
Temperament (a person’s disposition, character, or
nature) e. g: Reading a good book can sublimate your
temperament.
Sceptic (a person who doubts the truth of any theory or
religion) e. g: Many skeptics questioned the existence of
God.
Astrology (a false science that tries to tell the future by
studying the stars) e. g: Do you believe in astrology?
542
Comments:
My Learning Journal – Listening (Academic Listening)
Name
Connie Wang
Date
2012/11/13
Topic
Academic reading
Source
BBC Learning English (Talk about English)
Most of the time, we are asked to read many books in
a short time, therefore, what we have to do is read
effectively and also have to learn to be selective in what
we read.
When we read, we do not read everything at the same
speed so that we can adjust the speed and depth of
reading to suit our purposes.
When reading large quantities of materials, skimming
and scanning are important skills to elevate the
efficiency. By skimming, we can quickly look over some
materials and then decide it’s useful for us or not. On the
other hand, once we have a specific question, then we
look for the answer to the question. This is called
Three main ideas I
heard from this
episode are…
One thing I learned in
this episode that I
may be able to use in
future is…
I’m still unsure
about…
scanning.
After reading the article, I learned lots of skills to fortify
the ability in academic reading. First, learn to be
selective to shorten the time spent on something
unnecessary. Second, look for the key words and do not
read everything at the same speed. Pick up the
important part to read to suit your purposes. Finally,
after picking up the important part, try to find the
answer to the questions you are searching for. The skills
above not only can help me read large quantities of
materials in a short time, but make me feel confident in
reading long article.
I am not unsure about anything in the article. The skills
showed in it just like the thing Faith has taught in the
beginning of the IELTs class and each teacher try to tell
their students. I have heard the skills many times since I
started learning English. However, I think the most
difficult part to everyone is making good use of each
strategy on the exams. I believe that many people knew
the strategies, but still cannot live up to the standard.
Therefore, understanding is not sufficient, we have to
make an effort to practice more to let us be familiar with
techniques.
Issues that interested
me a lot, and I’d like
to study in more
detail
The topic talks about reading. Actually I want to know
more about writing than reading, because writing is the
thing that we have to create from ourselves. Thus, it’s
much more difficult than reading.
New words/phrases I
learned in this
episode are …
Amplify (make larger, stronger) e. g: We must amplify
the scope of our city.
Eliminate (get rid of: remove) e. g: He eliminated
unnecessary words from the sentence.
Scan (look through quickly) e. g: He scanned the list
until he found his own name.
Anthropology (the study of human beings and their
cultures) e. g: He is interested in anthropology, so he
plans to major it despite parents’ disapproval.
Word Count
504
Comments: