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February 28 Fred in Beijing Newspaper!On February 14, 2008, Valentines Day, a story was written about us in the Beijing Youth Daily Newspaper. It was written by one of my girlfriend's classmates who's a journalist for the newspaper. The story is about how her and I met in Seattle and then moved to China. Download the story and read it! Or have it translated if you can't read Chinese.
Download it from this folder. There are two formats, jpeg and pdf. The folder contains the newspaper cover and the 2 page article.
http://cid-da3e08396ceedb11.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Beijing%20Newspaper%20Article
The story has been changed a little, but for the most part it's accurate. Our names have been slightly modified for our protection.
February 26 Download ESL Powerpoint Presentations - Urban LegendsI just uploaded my last ESL Powerpoint presentation titled Urban Legends. What is a urban legend? What's folklore, netlore, hoax, etc? Learn these vocabulary words in this Powerpoint presentation. I start the lesson by telling the class three different stories about popular American restaurants, McDonalds, KFC and Pizza Hut. Why did KFC change its name from Kentucky Fried Chicken? Is it because they don't use REAL chickens? Did a woman really eat a pus filled tumor in her McDonalds fried chicken sandwich? Did an employee pee on a customer's pizza? Read all these stories in this ppt.
The lesson discusses ways to spot an Urban Legend. For example, "This happened to my haidressers husband co-worker's uncle..." Signs of an urban legend.
Read other stories about the largest cat and dog, GM cars, Biscuits for Brains, The Fatal Hairdo, Man-eating Catfish of Furong Resevoir, Drinking bottled water left in the car, The Hook, Killer in the Backseat, Humans Can Lick too and cell phones at gas stations.
My favorite is Cokelore. Stories about Coca-cola. Did Coca-cola used to contain cocaine? Is Coca-cola an effective spermicide?
Find out all about Urban Legends! Download this ESL Powerpoint lesson from blog. Have fun!
Is this a man-eating catfish? February 23 Fred on the Ningbo Radio StationDuring the New Year holiday, I was on a Ningbo Radio Station program. The half hour program was about Chinese people who have studied or lived abroad. My girlfriend's was one of the guests. Originally, there was supposed to be another foreigner that spoke a little English, but the guy canceled. The radio host asked me if I wanted to do it, so I said, "Sure, why not." During the show, the host asked all of us questions about our experiences in foreign countries. The host asked me how I felt about China. What did I think about the New Year holiday? What did I like best about it? Also, why did I come to Ningbo?
Listen to Fred speak bad chinese! Haha!
You can click on the link below to download the two clips of me on the radio.
February 21 Healthiest City to Live in America - SeattleSeattle is America's best city for healthy living according to Cooking Light magazine. Read the article and find out why.
Also includes story about other healthy cities in America.
1) Seattle, WA
2) Portland, OR
3) Washington, DC
4) Minneapolis, MN
5) San Francisco, CA
February 17 New ESL PowerPoint LessonsI just added 3 more ESL PowerPoint lessons that you can download on my blog. All of these ESL PowerPoint lessons can be downloaded by clicking the banner ad at the top right of my blog home page.
The banner looks like this:
(clicking this picture will not work. you need to go to my home page)
home page - http://fgoningbo999.spaces.live.com
1) Warren Buffet - He's the second richest man in world. In a recent interview with CNBC, he said he donated US$31 billion to charity. This short Powerpoint presentation shares Warren Buffet's philosophy on life and business. This PPT was sent to me from a friend. I used it in class because I thought his philosophies were very inspiring and insightful.
"The HAPPIEST people DO NOT necessarily have the BEST of all. They simply APPRECIATE what they find on their way”
2) Seattle - This ESL Powerpoint presentation gives the class a brief introduction to Seattle. Where is Seattle? What is it famous for? The lesson has pictures of popular tourist areas and yearly activities, such as Bumbershoot and Seafair. The lesson gives a brief history of Seattle and introduces famous large companies like Boeing and Microsoft. It also has some information about Bill Gates multi-million dollar home. This lesson also includes lots of vocabulary about water bodies, such as estuary, embayment, etc. Also includes vocabulary about popular Northwest outdoor activities, such as hiking and kayaking. Other slides include, Seattle earthquake, WTO riots, Pike Place Market, Space Needle, Chittenden Locks, Seattle Art Museum, University of Washington, famous graves, Starbucks, Capitol Hill and of course the weather! For those of you who want to teach your class about Seattle, this is a good basic lesson.
3) Winter Weather - This ESL Powerpoint presentation is a short lesson about winter weather. Mainly the types of snow. Flurries, Blowing snow, etc. A couple of weeks ago here in Ningbo, China it snowed the most in 20 years. A lot of students came to me and asked me how you would describe the snow falling outside. So I just put together a very basic winter weather vocabulary presentation.
For example: Snow Showers – Snow falling at varying intensities for brief periods of time. Some accumulation is possible.
February 16 Prawns + Vitamin C = Death ???
This story was sent to me. True? Any medical opinions?
An incident happened in Taiwan. There was a woman who suddenly died. There was an investigation as to the cause of her death. The woman did not die because of suicide and was not killed maliciously, but because of food poisoning.
The woman had the habit of drinking Vitamin C every day. The night the woman died, she at a lot of prawns for dinner. After dinner, she took her usual dose of Vitamin C. Soon after, she suddenly died.
After eating a lot of prawns/shrimps that contain “Arsenic Pentoxide” if you take a lot of Vitamin C soon thereafter, the results would be production of the extremely TOXIC “Arsenic Trioxide.” That causes sudden death due to organ failures and bleeding out the Ear Nose Throat and Eyes.
So be careful after eat lots of prawns and shrimps! Don’t take Vitamin C after!
Any comments? Is this true?
Article about Passion - Chris GardnerThis is an article that was sent to me. It's a very good article about passion. You should definitely read it.
(it's from BusinessWeek magazine)
BusinessWeek
From Homeless to Multimillionaire Tuesday July 24, 8:08 am ET By Carmine Gallo It's not every day you get the chance to pick the brain of a man whose real-life rags-to-riches story was turned into a Hollywood movie starring one of America's top actors. But the other day I had the opportunity to spend time with Chris Gardner, subject of the 2006 movie The Pursuit of Happyness, in which Gardner was played by Will Smith.
While attending an unpaid internship program at Dean Witter Reynolds in 1981, Gardner spent a year on the streets with his two-year-old son. They took refuge at night in a church shelter or the bathroom of a BART subway station in Oakland, Calif. Nobody at work knew. Gardner eventually won a position as a stockbroker at Dean Witter. Two years later he left for Bear Stearns BSC), where he became a top earner. In 1987, he founded his own brokerage firm, Gardner Rich,in Chicago. Today, Gardner is a multimillionaire, a motivational speaker, a philanthropist, and an international businessman who is about to launch a private equity fund that will invest solely in South Africa. His partner in the fund? Nelson Mandela. Not bad for a guy who, six years before founding his own brokerage firm, was "fighting, scratching, and crawling my way out of the gutter with a baby on my back."
"Passion is Everything"
Gardner is a magnificent speaker and has an engaging personality -- qualities all business professionals would crave. But what's behind his success? What is the one thing -- the one secret -- that helped him change his life? "It's passion," he told me. "Passion is everything. In fact, you've got to be borderline fanatical about what you do." Gardner says he was fortunate to find something he truly loved, something where he couldn't wait for the sun to rise so he could do it again. His advice to entrepreneurs and those seeking a career change? "Be bold enough to find the one thing that you are passionate about. It might not be what you were trained to do. But be bold enough to do the one thing. Nobody needs to dig it but you."
Gardner wanted to be "world-class at something." For him, that something was being a stockbroker. For you, finding something you are passionate about will make the difference in how engaging you become as a communicator and as a leader. If you love what you do, you'll eagerly share the story behind it with boundless enthusiasm.
Passion is not teachable. As a communications coach, I can help clients craft and deliver a powerful story, but I can't create passion. But it's passion that separates the electrifying presenters from the average ones. I'm absolutely convinced of it. As a former television journalist, I've interviewed thousands of spokespeople and personally coached hundreds of others in my current profession. Donald Trump once said: "Without passion, you have no energy -- and without energy, you have nothing." Your listeners want to be in the presence of someone with energy, a person who greets people with a smile and an abundance of enthusiasm. Passion is not something you necessarily verbalize, but it shows. When Gardner walked into Dean Witter after having slept in a subway station the night before, he only wanted to leave one impression on his co-workers. "All they needed to know is that I would light it up day after day. Passion is not something you have to talk about. People feel it. They see it just as clearly as the color of your eyes, baby."
Coffee and Commitment
I have spent the last several years interviewing inspiring leaders, and I can say without hesitation that passion is the No. 1 quality that sets them apart. In many ways, my talk with Gardner reminds me of a conversation I once had with Starbucks (NasdaqGS:SBUX - News) Chairman Howard Schultz. Like Gardner, Schultz used the word "passion" throughout our entire conversation. But remarkably, the word "coffee" was rarely spoken. You see, for Schultz, coffee is not his passion. Instead, Schultz says, he is passionate about creating a workplace that "treats people with dignity and respect;" a workplace environment that his father never had the opportunity to experience. The coffee product offers the means to help Schultz fulfill his passion. In much the same way, stock trading and commissions offered Gardner the means to fulfill his passion, which was to give his son something he never had -- a father.
Passion is the foundation of effective communication. Dig deep to discover your core purpose, your true passion. Once you connect to it, use it as fuel to build a rapport with your audience -- recruiters, managers, employees, etc. Your presentations, pitches, speeches, and all forms of business communication will be more engaging than ever. Nearly everyone has room to increase what I call the "passion quotient" -- the level of passion you exhibit as a speaker. The higher your passion quotient, the more likely you are to connect with people. Chris Gardner's passion fueled his determination in the face of overwhelming odds and obstacles. Take the time to imagine where harnessing your passion can take you.
Husband & Wife Travel to the Holy LandHusband & Wife Travel to the Holy Land
A man and his ever-nagging wife went on vacation to Jerusalem. While they were there, the wife passed away. The undertaker told the husband, "You can have her shipped home for $5,000, or you can bury her here, in the Holy Land, for $150." The man thought about it and told him he would just have her shipped home.
Heart Attack Symptoms and Cold Water
This article was sent to me and I thought it was very interesting and informative. Is it true?
This is a very good article. Not only about the warm water after your meal, but about heart attacks. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals, not cold water, maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating.
February 04 More Snow in NingboAnother round of snow hit Ningbo last Friday. It snowed for almost 2 days straight! The city got about 3-5 inches of snow. I spoke to many Ningbonese and they said that this is the most snow they've ever seen in their lifetime. Just to the north of us, Hangzhou got over 1 foot of snow. Luckily, we were spared the brunt of the storm. Since Ningbo rarely gets this much snow, the city has no snow plows or snow shovels. But amazingly, within one day after the snow stopped, all the roads and most of the sidewalks were clear of ice and snow. Some tree branches fell, but road crews worked quickly to trim the trees and clean them up. You can see workers all around town using regular dirt shovels to clear the snow. As pedestrians, we are still very careful on the roads. There are still some black ice patches. Car and e-bike drivers don't seem to understand that wheels slip on ice. In the past few days, I've seen mainly e-bikes slip and fall. They turn corners like they're riding on dry pavement. Instead they wipeout!
February 03 Lu Dou Wa (Green Round Frog) 绿豆蛙When I came to Ningbo, China and rode the bus, I saw this cartoon called Lu Dou Wa (绿豆蛙). He's a green round frog. The cartoons are really fun and he's really cute! So sometimes when I'm on the bus, I get to watch Lu Dou Wa (绿豆蛙) cartoons. I finally found his website and you can download all the icons for MSN or QQ chatting, movies, greeting cards and other fun stuff. The website is in chinese, but it was some English too. You can try to use Google translation to translate the page into English. Here's the website:
Click the link below to download some icons and flash cartoons. Enjoy!
The icons are in a rar file. The cartoons are in swf format that you can open in Internet Explorer.
Download Reebok's Terry Tate Office Linebacker CommercialA few weeks ago, I gave a lesson about the basics of American football. (You can download the PowerPoint American Football by clicking the banner ad on the top right) During that lesson, I also showed them the Reebok Terry Tate Office Linebacker commercial that aired during the Super Bowl a few years ago. I just added that commercial to my blog so that you can download and watch it. I think it's a really funny commercial!
Here's the link to download it:
It's a WMV file about 7.9MB |
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